
Class 
Book. 






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Ccfjfa 2 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



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FROM THE HEALY PORTRAIT IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBER 

OF CHARLESTON. 



LIFE OF 



JOHN- C. CALHOUN. 



^** ^F* S^* 

BEING A VIEW OF THE PRINCIPAL 
EVENTS OF HIS CAREER AND AN 
ACCOUNT OF HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO 
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL SCIENCE 



S&* G^* $&* 



— BY— 

GUSTAVUS M. PINCKNEY, 

i • 

Of the Charleston, S. C, Bar. 



S^** ^p* $^* 



Charleston, S. C. 

WALKER, EVANS & COGSWELL CO ., 

Publishers, 

1903. 






I 



THE LIBRARY OP 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

AUG 15 190S 

t Copyright Entry 

ALU. iC'tf P2> 
CLASSO A, XXa N«. 

COPY A. 






COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY G. M. PINCKNEY. 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 



To American citizens everywhere, who revere 
the Union as it came from the hands of its 
framers, in the hope of directing their attention 
afresh to the example and teaching of him who 
better than any other has declared the great 
political law, according to whose inexorable work- 
ing Americans in the past fell into strife and dis- 
union, and continued disregard of which will not 
less surely lead in the future, to further disorder 
and degradation, this volume, is with great 
earnestness and candor of spirit dedicated. 



1 The past is past, and cannot be recalled; and a reference to it 
is only profitable as furnishing lessons of experience."— Calhoun. 

" I desire to die in the discharge of my duty; I have an unshaken 
reliance upon the providence of God." — Calhoun. 

" It is a serious misfortune to run half a century ahead of the 
knowledge of the day; and if a man is bent on doing this, he should 
make up his mind to meet the consequences, and count the cost. 
Men of moderate intellect disapprove, the timid are alarmed, foes are 
excited, and friends stand aloof. A man, so determined to abide 
by Truth, through evil report and good report, must be content t» 
brave the pity of some, the sneers of others, and the rancorous hatred 
of all who live and prosper by existing error."— Thomas Cooper. 



SURVEY OF CONTENTS. 



Part I. 1782-1811, Seed-Time Chapter I 

Part II. 1S1 1-1833, Youth and Construction. 

Chapters II. aud III 

Part III. 1833-1843, War with the Evil Genius of Consolidation, and 

its Bastard Brood. Tariffs, Banks and "Spoils" 

Chapters IV. V. VI. and VII 

Part IV 1843-1S50, Acquisition of a Eordly Domain and effort to 

Preserve the Union Chapters VIII-XI 

Part V. A Testament Chapters XII and XIII 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Chapter I. Foundation 7 

II. "Theory" 2 4 

III. Reflection 55 

IV. Nullification H 

V. Tariff e 9 

VI. Finance 8 .^ 

VII. Spoils I02 

VIII Texas and Oregon, I "2 

IX. Texas and Oregon, II 127 

X. Mexican War HO 

XI. Abolitionism l 5 I 

XII. "The Rest is Silence" .213 

XIII. His Richest Legacy to Posterity 230 



CHAPTER I. 

FOUNDATION. 

'There is, sir, one principle necessary to 
make us a great people, to produce not the 
form but real spirit of union, and that is to 
protect every citizen in the lawful pursuit of 
his business. He will then feel that he is 
backed by the government ; that its arm is his 
arm ; and will rejoice in its increased strength 
and prosperity. Protection and patriotism are 
reciprocal. This is the way which has led 
nations to greatness. Sir, I am not versed in 
this calculating policy, and will not, therefore, 
pretend to estimate in dollars and cents the 
value of national independence. I cannot 
measure in shillings and pence the misery, the 
stripes, and the slavery of our impressed sea- 
men ; nor even the value of our shipping, com- 
mercial, and agricultural losses, under the 
orders in council and the British system of 
blockade. * * *"* 

"But we are told of the black population of 
the Southern States. As far as the gentleman 
from Virginia [John Randolph] speaks of his 
own personal knowledge, I shall not question 
the correctness of his statement. I only regret 

1 The Works of Calhoun, 6 Vols. D. Appleton & Co., 1853. 
Vol. II, p. 6. 



8 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

that such is the state of apprehension in his 
particular part of the country. . Of the South- 
ern section I. too, have some personal knowl- 
edge, and can say that in South Carolina no 
such fears in any part are felt. * * *"~ 

"The gentleman's imagination, so fruitful 
on this subject, conceives that our constitution 
is not calculated for war, and that it cannot 
stand its rude shock. This is rather extra- 
ordinary. If true, we must then depend upon 
the commiseration or contempt of other nations 
for our existence. The constitution, then, it 
seems, has failed in an essential object, 'to pro- 
vide for the common defense/ No, says the 
gentleman from Virginia, it is competent for 
a defensive but not for an offensive war. It 
is not necessary for me to expose the error 
of this opinion. Why make the distinction in 
this instance ? Will he pretend to say that this 
is an offensive war, a war of conquest? Yes; 
the gentleman has dared to make this assertion, 
and for reasons no less extraordinary than the 
assertion itself. He says our rights are vio- 
lated on the ocean, and that these violations 
affect our shipping and commercial rights, to 
which the Canadas have no relation. The 
doctrine of retaliation has been much abused 
of late by an unreasonable extension ; we have 
now to witness a new abuse. The gentleman 
from Virginia has limited it down to a point. 
By his rule, if you receive a blow on the breast, 

2 Works, II, p. 8. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. Q 

you dare not return it on the head; you are 
obliged to measure and return it on the precise 
point on which it was received. If you do 
not proceed with this mathematical accuracy, 
it ceases to be just self-defense : it becomes an 
unprovoked attack. * * *' 

"The gentleman from Virginia is at a loss 
to account for what he calls our hatred to 
England. He asks how can we hate the coun- 
try of Locke, of Newton, Hampden, and 
Chatham ; a country having the same language 
and customs with ourselves, and descending 
from a common ancestry. Sir, the laws of hu- 
man affection are steady and uniform. If we 
nave so much to attach us to that country, po- 
tent indeed must be the cause which has over- 
powered it. * * :: But the gentleman, in his 
eagfer admiration of that country, has not been 
sufficiently guarded in his argument. Has he 
reflected on the cause of that admiration ? Has 
he examined the reasons of our high regard 
for her Chatham? It is his ardent patriotism, 
the heroic courage of his mind, that could not 
brook the least insult or injury offered to his 
country, but thought that her interest and 
honor ought to be vindicated at every hazard 
and expense. I hope, when we are called upon 
LO admire, we shall also be asked to imitate. 
I hope the gentleman does not wish a monop- 
oly of those great virtues for England. 



* 



3 Works, II, p. 9. 

4 Works, II, p.. 1 1 



10 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

Such are the words that would have greeted 
the ear of a visitor to the halls of Congress, 
December 12, 181 1. The visitor, if otherwise 
uninformed, would probably have made in- 
quiry as to the speaker, this tall young man, 
whose eyes shone with such a brilliant light, 
and who had undertaken thus unhesitatingly 
to assail the great orator of Roanoke. There 
would doubtless have been present some ac- 
commodating person to impart the information 
desired (and more besides). 'This is John 
C. Calhoun, just come up from South Caro- 
lina. He is the young man about whom there 
has been such a stir in that State. He has been 
serving in their State Legislature several years., 
and his action in respect to the present com- 
plications with England attracted so much 
attention that his district has elected him to 
Congress by a large majority. He is only 
:wenty-nine years of age. He is said to be 
one of the coming men," etc. 

The Twelfth Congress was one whose 
strength and talents all accounts unanimously 
insist upon. "Of all the Congresses with 
which I have had any acquaintance since my 
entry into the service of the Federal Govern- 
ment, in none, in my humble opinion, has been 
assembled such a galaxy of eminent and able 
men as were in the House of Representatives 
of that Congress which declared the war, and 
in that immediately following the peace." 

5 From The Carolina Tribute to Calhoun; edited by J. P. 
Thomas. R. L. Bryan, Columbia, S. C, 1857. p. 9- 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. II 

:; c * * g Q Henry Clay spoke of it forty years 
later. South Carolina loves to remember that 
three of her most devoted sons now simul- 
taneously made their first entry upon the 
Federal stage — Langdon Cheves, William 
Lowndes, and John C. Calhoun. 

It is a bright page of history which tells ot 
the friendship of Lowndes and Calhoun. 
There is a very striking parallelism which may 
be traced between their careers. They were 
within a few days the same age. Lowndes 
was born in February, Calhoun in March, 
1782. They represented the different types of 
Carolina character; either improved and ele- 
vated by the modifying influence of the other. 
Calhoun was the highest type of frontier 
rugged virility, yet tempered at the same time 
by the spirit of seacoast culture. Lowndes, on 
the other hand, was the highest type of the 
seacoast culture and refinement, made liberal 
and more robust by the quickening influence 
of frontier hardihood. But the most remark- 
able feature of this parallelism is the fact that 
the fathers of both of them were unalterably 
opposed to the adoption of the Constitution. 
Sturdy Patrick Calhoun apprehended it would 
mean relapse into "taxation without represen- 
tation." Rawlins Lowndes wished no further 
epitaph than these words : "Here lies the man 
who opposed the Constitution because it was 
dangerous to the liberties of America." Yet, 
in spite of this, the sons of these two fathers 



12 THE LIFE (F JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

probably did as much towards strengthening: 
and building up the struggling young nation as 
any others. They were both vigorous in the 
policy of the war, and of building up the 
navy., to the extent of departing radically from 
the precepts of their party in those particulars. 
In later years, when both of these statesman- 
friends were "spoken of" for the Presidency, 
the gossips looked for an interruption of their 
daily intercourse. They did not know the 
men. The two tall figures were daily seen, 
just as formerly, walking side by side to the 
Capitol. 

Lowndes was prematurely snatched away, 
before he had time more than to commence 
the work of hewing out the noble career which 
should have been his. But, in spite of his 
untimely death, his name still shines un- 
dimmed, though with a placid luster, upon the 
page of history. It is a pleasant theme for 
reflection, the close mutual friendship of these 
two great men. Calhoun, in after years, 
named one of his boys "William Lowndes." 

Who is there that from hearing a man speak 
can infer his past history and divine the 
formative influences which have produced his 
character? This were no easy task, even in 
the case of the veriest simpleton. But in the 
case of a Newton or a Calhoun, even with the 
book of history wide open before the eye, there 
is presented a problem to defy the subtlest. 



THE LIFE CF JOHN C. CALHOUN 13 

The inward truth may only be approximated; 
but certain broad influences may be traced, 
upon which all can be brought to agree. The 
Calhouns were of that hardy race which floated 
with the tide of colonization from Pennsyl- 
vania and Virginia down the course of the 
Allegheny Mountains — "Scotch-Irish" stock 
they call it, whatever that may signify. The 
father came as a child from Donegal to Penn- 
sylvania, thence to Virginia, thence to the 
home which he settled in -1756, in Abbeville 
District, South Carolina. The mother was 
born in Charlotte County, Virginia. Her 
maiden name was Caldwell. Of four maternal 
uncles, we are told, the one after whom John 
C. Calhoun was named was murdered in his 
own yard by Tories, after they had burned his 
house; another fell at Cowpens, with thirty 
saber cuts ; a third lay nine months in the dun- 
geons of St. Augustine, a prisoner of the 
British.* 

Of Patrick Calhoun, thrilling tales are pre- 
served, as to bloody Indian fights, in which he 
proved too quick a wit and too good a shot 
even for those crafty antagonists. * * * 
"Upon one occasion, he and his neighbors went 
down within twenty-three miles of Charleston, 
armed with rifles, to exercise a right of 
suffrage which had been disputed, a contest 
which ended in electing him to the Legislature 

*Gen. Edward McCrady points out to the author that this 
detail from the Hunter account is not historically accurate. 



14 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

of the State, in which body he served for thirty 

" 6 

years. 

Such were the hands that rocked the cradle 
of John C. Calhoun, in which he made his 
first appearance March 18, 1782. His birth 
was contemporaneous, one might say, with the 
birth of the Republic. There were other 
cradles rocking that same day whose pulpy 
burdens were destined in after times to de- 
velop into world-renowned statesmen. Daniel 
Webster, an infant of three months standing, 
sickly though he was, no doubt on that very 
day was deep in the mysteries of pap; Henry 
Clay, a boy of five, was possibly already en- 
gineering compromises with unwilling nurses ; 
John Randolph, a bumptious lad of nine, in all 
probability asking hard questions of his elders, 
and hearing foolish answers. 

Calhoun's education was wholly remarkable. 
"There was not an academy within fifty 
miles/' says one account. "At the age of 
thirteen he was placed under the charge of his 
brother-in-law, Moses Waddel, a Presbyterian 
clergyman, in Columbia County, Georgia." 
"As it happened, he had not been going to 
school at all, for at that period Mr. Waddel's 
clerical duties occupied so much of his atten- 
tion that he was absent during the greater part 
of the time." 8 The lad, however, was not idle. 

6 From Life of John C. Calhoun (1782-1843). b y R - M - T - 
Hunter. Harper & Brothers, 1843. p. 4. 

7 Life, Harpers, p. 5. 

8 Sketch by W. Pinkney Starke; in Correspondence of John 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 1 5 

In fourteen weeks, it is said, he had read 
Rollin's Ancient History, Robertson's Charles 
V, and South America, and Voltaire's Charles 
XII, Cook's Voyages, (small vol.), Essays by 
Brown, and Locke's Essay as far as the chap- 
ter on Infinity. Possibly his youthful mind 
was fortunate in penetrating" no further than 
stated into that abstruse work. "So intense 
was his application that his eyes became seri- 
ously affected, his countenance pallid, and his 
frame emaciated." 9 His mother (sensible 
woman) promptly took him away from books 
and set him to hunting and fishing, at which 
sports he is said to have become not a little 
expert. "Sawney," we learn, was his constant 
companion and playmate in these days. In 
after days, he is said constantly to have re- 
galed enquirers with stories of these expedi- 
tions, and to have narrated with peculiar zest 
how "me and Marse John in the br'ilin' sun 
has plowed together." 

No more is heard of books until five years 
later, when there seems to have developed a 
unanimous consensus of opinion that this 
young man should have the benefit of a higher 
education. John demurred at first, as he was 
needed by his mother (the father died some 
years before) to aid in managing the farm, and 
the family could ill afford the requisite means. 



C. Calhoun, American Historical Association; edited by J. Frank- 
lin Jameson, 1900. p. 72. 

9 Life, Harpers, 1843, P- 5- 



l6 THE LIFE CF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

The accounts seem all to agree that he insisted 
that, if he were to have a high professional 
education, seven years, at least, would be neces- 
sarv. This seems a very remarkable view for 
a lad of eighteen. Whether the account be 
accurate or not, the fact remains that such a 
period was actually devoted to his education. 
It is a very high tribute to the sense and gen- 
erosity of his family that they should have thus 
insisted upon the matter of the education, and 
have denied themselves, as was necessary, to 
provide the means. 

Thus young Calhoun entered upon the 
higher education at a period when many are 
about to leave it. Doubtless his mind was all 
the more vigorous and independent for the 
training it had received in Nature's school. 
"In this school," remarks Calhoun's most dis- 
criminating eulogist, "he learned to think, 
which is a vast achievement." 10 The academy, 
which had now been established by this same 
Dr. Waddel, near Calhoun's home, was se- 
lected for the first stage. The following pic- 
turesque account will bear quoting : "The boys 
boarded at farmhouses in the neighborhood 
or lived in log huts in the woods near the 
academy, furnishing their own supplies. At 
sunrise. Dr. Waddel was wont to wind his 
horn, which was immediately answered by 
horns from various boarding-houses in all di- 
rections. At an early hour the pupils made 

10 J. H. Hammond, Oration. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 17 

their appearance at the log cabin schoolhouse. 

"After prayers, the pupils, each with a chair 
bearing his name sculped in the back of it, re- 
tired to the woods for study, the classes being 
divided into squads according to individual 
preference. In the spring and summer months 
these squads scattered through the oak and 
hickory woods in quest of shade, but in cold 
weather the first thing done by them was to 
kindle log-heap fires. Whosoever imagines 
that the boys did not study as well as they 
would have done under the immediate eye of 
the teacher is mistaken. I have been to many 
schools, conducted according to various sys- 
tems of education, but nowhere have I seen 
such assiduity in study, nowhere have I ever 
witnessed such emulation to excel." 12 

At the same time that Calhoun launched for 
the first time into "amo" and "penna," a batch 
of timorous freshmen were tapping at the 
doors of Yale. In two years' time, Calhoun 
joined those freshmen at the junior class, and 
two years later graduated with them, in 1804. 
None of the accounts fail to mention that the 
subject of his graduation essay was "The 
qualifications necessary to constitute a per- 
fect statesman." It was an appropriate text 
for the life that followed.. Eighteen months 
now at a law school in Connecticut, and 



11 Starke, Sketch; Correspondence, p. 79. 

12 Starke, Sketch; Correspondence, p. 79. 

2 



l8 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

eighteen more in lawyers' offices in Charleston 
and Abbeville, and seed time is past, the har- 
vest begins. Two years afterward he was 
sent to the State Legislature, whence, in turn, 
as we were informed by the obliging gossip 
above, he was transferred to the House of 
Representatives in Washington. Looking 
back, Calhoun at thirteen starts at books, but 
is choked off; five years' hunting, fishing, and 
farming ; at eighteen, to Waddel's Academy ; 
at twenty, to Yale ; twenty-two, graduates ; 
twenty-five, lawyer ; twenty-seven, State Legis- 
lature ; twenty-nine, Congress. A year before 
going to Congress, he was happily married to 
a cousin, Floride Calhoun, daughter of John 
Ewing Calhoun, once United States Senator 
from South Carolina. 

Such, say the records, were the circum- 
stances and influences which had conspired to 
produce the tall, slim speaker of brilliant eye 
and eager demeanor, whose words, as above, 
rang out in the Hall of Representatives, De- 
cember 12, 1811. It is comparatively simple 
to give an account of the six years now spent 
in Congress. Mr. Calhoun was on the side of 
the majority, a majority which had in hand 
the business of bursting the last fetters of de- 
pendence and preparing for the youthful Her- 
cules Republic new- garments in the lieu of out- 
grown swaddling clouts. With all the zeal 
and strength of a large nature, he addressed 
himself to the task, and with conspicuous sue- 




CALHOUN IN EARLY LIFE. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 19 

cess. To ward off danger from without; 
within, to point the consciousness of national 
pride and build up national power — this, and 
little besides, was his study. 

The commentators who have accused Cal- 
houn of inconsistency have not half availed 
themselves of the materials that obviously 
offer in this behalf. A very much stronger 
case than has been yet presented could easily 
be made out by the devotees to what he him- 
self once designated "quack consistency." 
"Their consistency," he says, "is like that of 
a physician who, in the treatment of a highly 
inflammatory fever, would administer emetics 
and calomel, not only at the beginning but at 
every subsequent stage of the disease. It is 
the consistency of a quack which would be 
sure to kill the patient." 13 From time to time 
during these six years he advocated, with great 
force and ability, protective duties, internal 
improvements, and the latitudinarian construc- 
tion of powers. All that can be said in favor 
of these doctrines he said, and, as usual, said 
rather better than anyone else. If the advo- 
cates of such doctrines would confine them- 
selves to the arguments made in these years 
by Mr. Calhoun, they would stand on a much 
better footing than they usually occupy. 

"I hope that at all times, and under every 
policy, they (manufacturers) will be protected 
with due care. * * *" "In regard to the 

13 Works, IV, p. 268. 



20 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

question, how far manufactures ought to be 
fostered, it is the duty of this country, as a 
means of defense, to encourage its domestic 
industry." 14 "Another objection had been 
made which, he must acknowledge, was better 
founded: that capital employed in manufac- 
turing produced a greater dependence on the 
part of the employed than in commerce, navi- 
gation, or agriculture. It is certainly an evil, 
and to be regretted; but he did not think it a 
decisive objection to the system, especially 
when it had incidental political advantages 
which, in his opinion, more than counterpoised 
it. It produced an interest strictly American, 
as much so as agriculture, in which it had 
the decided advantage of commerce or naviga- 
tion. The country will from this derive much 
advantage. Again, it is calculated to bind to- 
gether more closely our widely spread republic. 
It will greatly increase our mutual dependence 
and intercourse, and will, as a necessary con- 
sequence, excite an increased attention to in- 
ternal improvements, a subject every way so 
intimately connected with the ultimate attain- 
ment of national strength and the perfection 
of our political institutions. * * *" 15 

"lam no advocate for refined arguments on 
the Constitution. The instrument was not in- 
tended as a thesis for the logician to exercise 
his ingenuity on. It ought to be construed 

" Works, II, p. 148. 
ir> Works, II, p. 172. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C CALHOUN. 21 

with plain, good sense. * * *" 16 "If the 
framers had intended to limit the use of the 
money to the powers afterwards enumerated 
and denned, nothing could have been more 
easy than to have expressed it plainly. 
* * *" 17 This last passage occurs in an ar- 
gument perhaps the strongest that has been 
made in favor of the power to tax for the 
"general welfare." The argument was made 
in support of the bill to set aside the bank divi- 
dends for roads and canals, the passage of 
which may be said to have been due to Mr. 
Calhoun's influence. It was vetoed by Mr. 
Madison as unconstitutional! There is no 
more significant occurrence in the early his- 
tory. A traveler (especially a young one) in 
the tropics is not apt to concern himself greatly 
on the score of overcoats, even though advised 
by older companions that presently overcoats 
will be comfortable. Mr. Madison did not 
forget that there is an arctic region. John 
Randolph remembered it, and did not fail to 
make his remembrance known. 

The constant opposition during these years 
between Calhoun and Randolph is as remark- 
able as it is picturesque. Randolph stands the 
great States Rights advocate of the middle 
ground, between Jefferson and Madison be- 
fore, and Calhoun afterwards. Yet in these 
days Calhoun was his constant antagonist. A 

16 Works, II, p. 192. 

17 Works, II, p. 192- 



22 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

few years later we find him attributing to John 
Randolph "wisdom worthy of a Bacon, and 
wit that would not discredit a Sheridan." 18 

Mr. Calhoun was still in the first stage of 
political development. It is hardly satisfac- 
tory., however, to attribute his views wholly to 
youth and inexperience. The eulogist before 
quoted remarks in this connection : "But Mr. 
Calhoun had no youth to our knowledge. He 
sprung into the arena like Minerva from the 
head of Jove, fully grown and clothed in 
armor." The times demanded the policies 
which he advocated, and he advocated them 
with all his heart and with all his strength. 
That growth and perfect development of po- 
litical understanding which marked the after 
years was not yet advanced beyond the em- 
bryonic stage. 

Viewed in its broadest light, there is the 
most perfect consistency in Calhoun's whole 
career. In these days, when foreign aggres- 
sion was to be resisted and the active powers 
of the Union were heavily drafted on, he was 
an ideal progressive statesman. In later days, 
when domestic division and injustice was to 
be checked, and the conservative powers of the 
Union put to the test, he became the ideal con- 
servative statesman. Of the first type there 
are multitudes of representatives, but of the 
latter, representatives are rare. It was in this 
second character that he was destined to soar 

1S Life, Harpers, p. 26. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 23 

on eagle wings against the very sun. The 
truth (and the trouble) is that many of the 
present day are still at the stage of develop- 
ment where Calhoun stood in 1811-17. Ap- 
parently it will take centuries for the multi- 
tudes, or even the leaders of the multitudes, to 
overtake him. 

As to the tariff of 181 6, which Calhoun ad- 
vocated with the arguments above indicated, 
perhaps it is not out of place to state that it 
made higher rates on unprotected than on pro- 
tected articles. The average of duties on all 
imports was about 30 per cent. ; on the pro- 
tected, about 20 per cent. In many arguments 
about this 181 6 tariff it becomes interesting to 
omit such details. 19 



10 See Calhoun's Speech, Force Bill, 1833. 



CHAPTER II. 



4. 



Theory." 



WAR DEPARTMENT STATISTICS. 20 





Total. 


Cost Per Man. 


Total. 




Year. 


Articles 
Affected 
by Admin- 
istration. 


Articles 

Not so 

Affected. 


Reduction. 


*i8i6 












*i8i 7 












c r 1818 


$3,702,495 
3,663,735 
3,061,884 
2,327,552 


$299 64 
275 98 
175 43 
150 40 


$151 93 
158 T2 

140 45 
136 62 


$45i 57 
434 70 
315 88 
287. 02 




g 1 1819 

.B <| 1820 

7? 1 1821 


$16 87 
135 69 
164 55 



This great reduction in the expenditure has 
been effected by the present organization, prin- 
cipally by the more minute control which, 
through it, has been given both to the disburse- 
ment of public money and the preservation of 
public property. Its beneficial effects have 
been no less striking in the prompt rendition 
and settlement of the accounts of disbursing 
officers. * * *" 21 

"I cannot retort on the Senator the charge 
of being metaphysical. I cannot accuse him 
of possessing the powers of analysis and 
generalization, those higher faculties of the 
mind (called metaphysical by those who do not 

* Unknown. 

20 Works, V, p. 115 et sea. 

21 Works, V, p. 121. 



THE LIFE CF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 25 

possess them) which decompose and resolve 
into their elements the complex masses of ideas 
that exist in the world of mind, as chemistry 
does the bodies that surround us in the ma- 
terial world. * * *" 22 "Passing the inter- 
vening instances, I come down to my adminis- 
tration of the War Department, where I acted 
on my own judgment and responsibility. It is 
known to all that the department, at the time, 
was perfectly disorganized, with not much less 
than $50,000,000 of outstanding and unsettled 
accounts — and the greatest confusion in every 
branch of service. * * * After reducing the 
outstanding accounts to a few millions, 
and introducing order and accountability in 
every branch of service, and bringing down the 
expenditure of the army from four to two-and- 
a-half millions annually, without subtracting a 
single comfort from either officer or soldier, I 
left the department in a condition that might 
well be compared to the best in any country." 23 

"* * * In the War Department there has 
been no loss in fifteen years — from 1821 to 
1836 — on an expenditure certainly not less 
than $100,000,000. I take some pride in this 
result of an organization which I originated 
and established, when Secretary of War, 
against the most formidable opposition." 24 

These extracts will give a glimpse into the 
inside workings of the War Department under 

22 Works, III, p. 274. 

23 Works, III, p. 277. 

24 Works, III, p. 236. 



26 THE LIFE GF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

Mr. Calhoun. In 1817, upon the close of six 
years' service in Congress, he had been invited 
to take charge of this department by that wise 
and sturdy patriot, the last of the first great 
dynasty of Presidents, James Monroe. In this 
instance he evidently showed that solid judg- 
ment so conspicuous on many other occasions. 
Some of Calhoun's friends were very anxious 
that he should remain in Congress, as they 
thought the qualities of his mind preeminently 
fitted him for that station, and as they feared 
that the very brilliant reputation which was 
now his might suffer by the change. It is even 
said that William Lowndes heartily opposed 
his acceptance of this post. But such con- 
siderations weighed not a feather with the new 
nominee. Between Mr. Monroe and himself 
there seems to have sprung up a relation of 
the greatest kindliness and mutual regard. Air. 
Calhoun always, throughout the subsequent 
years, speaks of his chief with the most genu- 
ine respect, as well on account of his im- 
movable patriotism as of his equipoise of in- 
tellect. There were very few others of whom 
the like remark may be made. 

The results given above better than anything 
else show whether or not Air. Monroe's selec- 
tion was a happy one. An idea of how those 
results were obtained may be formed from the 
following extract from a communication to 
one of the committees, February 12, 1822: 

"They (the committee) will perceive that 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 27 

these Regulations propose to carry a minute 
and rigid responsibility into every branch of 
the military disbursements, with what success 
a reference to the expenditures under their 
operation will best illustrate. The committee 
will perceive, by reference to the Regulations, 
that one principle pervades the whole organi- 
zation — to hold the head of each subordinate 
department responsible for the disbursements 
of his department. All advances are made on 
his recommendation, founded on precise esti- 
mates ; and all accounts are rendered to him 
and, before they are audited, are minutely 
examined by him and approved. It is thus 
that responsibility is extended to every item 
of disbursements, and regularity and economy 
introduced."- 5 One of the points most insisted 
on in the reports of this period is the preserva- 
tion of the supplies, medicines, and the like. 
Mr. Calhoun early said that to reduce the 
actual cash disbursements to a science was 
comparatively simple, but so to organize as to 
lose sight of none the smallest item of prop- 
erty was the troublesome problem. It was 
here that his efficient hand worked such won- 
derful improvement : witness the reduction in 
expense of these items in the above table. 
While expenses are thus reduced, we always 
find Mr. Calhoun on the side of more pay and 
better and more diversified rations for the men. 
Parsimony, he insists always, is a different 

25 Works, V, p. 113. 



28 THE LIFE CF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

thing from economy. This feature appears 
very plainly when the solid affection and popu- 
larity is spoken of which was felt for him by 
all in the service, men and officers. 

^Ir. Calhoun had no small part in strength- 
ening the foundation and enlarging the scope 
of the Academy at West Point. In this con- 
nection the following extracts cannot prove 
without interest to any American : 

"* * * The Military Academy has acquired 
a character and importance which seem not to 
have been contemplated in its original institu- 
tion. It originated in the Act of the 16th of 
March, 1802, which created the corps of engi- 
neers. By that Act the President was au- 
thorized to establish a corps of engineers, 
to consist of one principal engineer, of the 
rank of major, with six assistant engineers, 
of the rank of captains and lieutenants, to 
which were added ten cadets; and the Act di- 
rected that the corps thus organized should be 
stationed at West Point, and should constitute 
a Military Academy. The principal engineer, 
and in his absence the next in rank, was made 
superintendent of the academy; and the Sec- 
retary of War was authorized to purchase such 
books, implements, and apparatus as should be 
necessary for the use of the institution. In the 
next year, by the Act of the 3d of February, 
1803, the President was authorized to attach 
to the engineers two teachers, one of the 
French language, and the other of drawing. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN- 2Q 

The institution remained without any change 
in its character until 1808, when, by the Act 
of the 1 2th of April of that year, authorizing 
the raising of an additional military force, two 
cadets were attached to each company of in- 
fantry, riflemen, and artillery authorized to be 
raised under it ; making, in the whole, with the 
ten cadets originally attached to the corps of 
engineers, one hundred and fifty cadets. The 
institution was further enlarged and changed 
in its character by the Act of the 25th of April, 
181 2. Three professors were then added — one 
of natural and experimental philosophy, an- 
other of mathematics, and the other the art of 
engineering in all its branches, with an assist- 
ant to each professor ; and the cadets, including 
those that were authorized to be appointed in 
1 81 8, were increased to two hundred and fifty, 
without being attached to any particular 
corps. * * * 

"Under its present organization it is, in fact, 
as intimately connected with one corps of the 
army as another; yet the provision of the Act 
of the 1 6th of March, 1802, which places the 
superintendence of the institution under the 
charge of the chief of the corps of engineers, 
and, in his absence, the next in command, still 
continues. It is obvious that the organization 
would be more simple, and would correspond 
more perfectly with its present character, if the 
Academy were wholly separated from the en- 
gineer corps, and the President were author- 



30 THE LIFE CF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

ized to select the superintendent from any 
corps of the army in which the most suitable 
character might be found. The field of selec- 
tion for so important an office would thus be 
enlarged, and the institution be brought more 
directly under the control of the government. 

;•; $i ;•; 

'The number of professors and assistant 
professors is believed to be too few for the 
wants of the Academy, and the two additional 
professors, one of chemistry and one of artil- 
lery, with the increase of the assistant pro- 
fessors and teachers recommended in the report 
of General Bernard and Colonel McRae, would 
greatly increase the usefulness and respecta- 
bility of the Academy. The professor of 
chemistry might perform the duties of post 
surgeon, as in our country the medical profes- 
sion and that of chemistry are usually united. 
The number of assistant professors is found 
to be so inadequate at present that cadets are 
appointed to perform the duty of assistants. 
The objections against the employment of 
cadets for that purpose contained in the report 
of the academic staff are deemed satisfactory. 
"I entirely concur in the opinion of the 
superintendent of the Academy that the pay 
of the professors ought to be equalized, and 
that the compensation of the other professors 
ought to be made equal to that of natural and 
experimental philosophy, who receive the pay 
and emoluments of a lieutenant-colonel. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 3 1 

Neither the difference in the duties of the pro- 
fessors, nor the difference in the capacity to 
perform those duties, is so considerable as to 
justify the present difference in their pay; and 
less compensation than that proposed, it is be- 
lieved, will not always command suitable 
talent. The compensation proposed in the 
report of the superintendent, for the teachers 
and assistant professors, appears to be just and 
proportionate to that of the professors. The 
pay of the superintendent of the Academy de- 
pends at present on his commission and rank; 
and as the most suitable officer for the post 
may hold an inferior rank, and as his duty and 
expenses as superintendent are the same, let 
his rank be what it may, it is conceived that 
it would be proper to allow the superintendent 
the pay and emoluments of a colonel, provided 
his rank does not give him a greater compensa- 
tion. The present superintendent, who has 
performed his duties with zeal and ability, re- 
ceives only the pay and emoluments of a major 
of engineers, and it is known that his com- 
pensation is inadequate to meet the expenses to 
which he is subjected, as superintendent, in a 
place so frequented by strangers as West Point. 
The additional number of professors and as- 
sistants, and the change in the compensation 
which has been proposed, will add something 
to the expenses of the institution ; but the great 
improvement which it will make will much 
more than compensate the public. The pay ot 



$2 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

superintendent and professors constitutes but 
a small portion of the expense of the Academy. 
The pay and subsistence of the cadets, the cost 
of buildings, fuel, stationery, books, etc., con- 
stitute the body of the expenses ; yet it is mani- 
fest that these, without a suitable number of 
able and experienced professors, are of no 
avail. The annual expenses will be but little 
affected, whether the number and pay of the 
professors are adequate or inadequate; but the 
prosperity of the institution must necessarily 
depend almost wholly on their number and 
ability. Without a sufficient number of pro- 
fessors, every branch of knowledge necessary 
to perfect an officer to discharge his duties 
cannot be taught, and without a sufficient com- 
pensation, adequate talents and experience to 
teach that well, which may be directed to be 
taught, cannot be commanded. A just degree 
of liberality in the compensation of the super- 
intendent, professors, and teachers, is thus 
necessarily connected with true economy, by 
rendering the other and most heavy expenses 
of the institution in the highest degree ef- 
fective." 26 

What army or navy man is there today who 
could read this without a ray of joy striking 
suddenly athwart his soul, at the mention 
of "increased compensation," "entertaining 
money" ! As was said, the chief of this de- 
partment enjoyed to a very unusual extent the 

28 Works, V, p. 73 et seq. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 33 

respect and affection of soldiers, employees, 
and officers. . We hear of the employees 
making addresses to him, etc. There were two 
removals from office of subordinates during 
Calhoun's eight years' administration, which 
is a pretty sure indication, in the first place, of 
how they were appointed, and in the next place, 
how they were treated. Those who know Cal- 
houn only by his reputation as a statesman are 
apt to lose sight of the man altogether. His 
private letters abundant^ show his easy and 
affectionate disposition. His blood flowed 
warm always. One of his friends once said 
that, if he could only converse with every man 
in the Union, not a particle of opposition to 
his views would remain. The devotion of the 
employees in this department is another phase 
of this side of his well-rounded and beautiful 
character. 

As to the General Bernard referred to above, 
the following is recorded: "* * * General 
Bernard, who had been a favorite aid-de-camp 
of the Emperor Napoleon, and saw and knew 
much of him, and who was chief of the board 
of engineers while Mr. Calhoun was secretary, 
and had an equal opportunity of observing 
him, not unfrequently, it is said, compared his 
(Calhoun's) administrative talents to those of 
that extraordinary man." 27 

In these davs it is said that Mr. Calhoun, 
next to Andrew Jackson, was the most popular 

27 Life, Harpers, p. 30. 
3 



34 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

man in the country, and that it was, even be- 
tween those two, a close question. Accord- 
ingly, after these two terms in the War De- 
partment, he was immediately raised to the 
Vice-Presidency, with J. Q. Adams as Presi- 
dent. We shall find the man presently in 
utterly new surroundings, everything changed 
but himself, from which many drew the con- 
clusion that he had changed. On the contrary, 
his figure for the next twenty-five years re- 
mains the one feature in the landscape of 
American history always visible and always 
in the same position — a sort of giant TenerifTe, 
firm and immovable, in the midst of storm and 
thunder and lightning. Up to this time, suc- 
cess, popularity, renown, affection, had been 
his in great abundance. The fiery furnace lay 
before him. 



CHAPTER III. 

Reflection. (Vice-President, 1825-32.) 

In considering the career of Mr. Calhoun, 
one is constantly struck with the remarkable 
way in which all the circumstances of his life 
seemed to conspire to perfect him in knowledge 
and experience of statecraft. The character 
of his parents, the surroundings of his child- 
hood, the natural bookless education of his 
early years, supplemented then by seven years 
of higher education and polish; then he was 
plunged into South Carolina politics at a 
period of more than common turmoil and con- 
tention (which to the initiated means a great 
deal ) , thence to Congress at the time of the 
complications with England ; after that seven 
years at the elbow of a sturdy patriot, his right 
hand constantly busy in service of the greatest 
moment to the struggling young republic; by 
what process could a man at forty-three years 
of age stand more perfectly equipped in every 
respect to discharge the duties which should 
fall to the "ideal statesman," that kind of 
statesman about whom we found him above 
making inquiries and writing essays years be- 
fore at Yale? Calhoun at forty-three had 
learned much, but it was characteristic of the 
man still to learn and grow in knowledge with 



36 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

every year. His intellect was replenished as 
if from some fountain of perpetual youth. His 
mind never grew old. To this quality may be 
attributed his never-failing originality and, as 
a commentator 28 has observed, the fact that 
each speech of his, as it came out, seemed to 
eclipse all former efforts in interest and illumi- 
nating power. 

While in the War Department he was still 
actively engaged in the constant routine of ex- 
acting practical duties, and occasion had never 
yet offered to draw out in their plentitude the 
marvelous analytic faculties which lay stored 
up within him. Even so late as 1828, four 
years after this, he could still write, to James 
Monroe, "It seems to me that we have no other 
check against abuses but such as grow out of 
responsibility, or elections, and while this is 
an effectual check, where the law acts equally 
on all, it is none in the case of the unequal 
action to which I refer."- 9 Years later this 
was still the point of view of Webster and 
Clay, but he himself, who now in 1828 utters 
these words, was the very one who was destined 
to reply to those his two great compeers and 
antagonists, to demonstrate the inadequacy of 
such a check, and the superficiality of the view 
which could discover no other in the Consti- 
tution. 

The period for observation, reflection, study, 
analysis, was now at hand, when Calhoun in 

28 J. H. Hammond. 

29 Correspondence, p. 266. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 37 

1825 took his seat as Vice-President. Upon 
his mind, as on some rich and deeply harrowed 
soil, experience with lavish hand scattered the 
seed. The seed, the soil, and every circum- 
stance favored. The resulting growth was in 
proportion. Possibly no time in the early life 
of the Republic could be selected better to illus- 
trate the multifarious and conflicting influences 
of its highly complex system of government. 
A cross-section of this period of history is per- 
haps better calculated than any other to reveal 
the whole anatomy of American constitutional 
government; each nerve and artery, bone 
sinew and articulation. When John O. Adams 
succeeded Monroe, a new era was at hand. 
Discriminating historians are well agreed upon 
this point. Tariff, banks, spoils, the threefold 
manifestation of one deep-seated scrofulous 
affliction in the body politic, though lodged 
much earlier in the nation's blood, now for the 
first time were struck to the surface in malig- 
nant eruption. The personal character of the 
several leaders of the day seemed to be such 
as to draw out into high relief every feature of 
the political landscape. 

Calhoun, when he took his seat as Vice- 
President, to use a phrase of his own. was still 
in the hornbook of political science. The pass- 
age from the letter to Monroe, above quoted, 
may serve for illustration. He was, however, 
at a stage of development beyond which, as 
was observed, even such men as Clay and 



38 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

Webster years later had not progressed, and 
beyond which the vast majority at the present 
day have not yet progressed. (It looks as if 
they never will.) It is that stage of develop- 
ment which is characterized by the view that 
suffrage is the sole and sufficient safeguard of 
liberty ; that, when the right to elect rulers is 
established, the tyranny of kings being crushed, 
freedom is forever guaranteed. This principle 
was the net result of the Revolution. This, the 
first lesson of political science, was then 
learned, and was proclaimed in such fashion 
that it has become indelibly stamped on the 
minds of posterity. Government by "consent 
of the governed" — so much the Revolution 
taught. But the learning of the first lesson so 
engrossed the early generations that they had 
little attention left for the lessons which should 
follow. It is a good thing to. have learned. 
It is an invaluable possession; yet it is not of 
itself enough. At this stage of advancement 
(and not beyond it) are found nearly all the 
early patriots, and since that day, unnumbered 
judges, historians, orators, and poets (per- 
haps), of high authority, of unquestioned re- 
spectability. "The majority have the right to 
rule" — such is their dictum. It is astonishing 
how difficult it seems to be to advance beyond 
this first lesson. When the leaders find it so 
difficult, no wonder that the multitudes still 
fare mob-like on and flounder heavily in count- 
less bogs. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 39 

Of the founders of the Republic, Jefferson 
and Madison seem alone to have progressed be- 
yond the first lesson. John Randolph, of Roa- 
noke, after them, likewise progressed. That 
Calhoun, with these examples immediately be- 
fore him, did not earlier progress is matter of 
great significance. 

Sedate as is the Presidency of the Senate, 
while Calhoun occupied the chair, he was 
destined to experience many a storm. Early 
in his first term came Randolph's heavy can- 
nonade against the administration, which ter- 
minated in the immortal epigram : 4 T was de- 
feated, horse, foot, and dragoons — cut up and 
clean broke down by the coalition of Blifil and 
Black George — by the combination, unheard of 
till then, of the puritan with the blackleg." 30 
This was more than flesh and blood could en- 
dure. "Black George" called Randolph out. 
"Blifil" quoted Ovid. 

Calhoun had refused to call Randolph to 
order, on the ground that the right to call to 
order rested with Senators. This brought 
down the wrath of the President upon his head 
in a bitter attack. 

From Randolph it is safe to say that Cal- 
houn learned much in these days. Randolph 
understood things. He understood, for in- 
stance, the tariff humbug. As early as 1824 
he had said in this connection: "This is not 
the last tariff measure; for, in less than five 

30 The Life of John Randolph, of Roanoke, by Hugh A. Gar- 
land. D. Appleton & Co., 1853. p. 254. 



40 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

years, I would, if I were a betting man, wager 
any odds that we have another tariff propo- 
sition, worse by far than that, amendments to 
which gentlemen had strangled yesterday by 
the bow-string of the previous question. * * * 
When I recollect that the tariff of 1816 was 
followed by that of 1819-20, and that by this 
measure of 1823-24, I cannot believe that we 
are at any time long to be exempt from the 
demands of those sturdy beggars, who will 
take no denial. Every concession does but 
render every fresh demand and new concession 
more easy. It is like those dastard nations 
who think to buy peace." 31 

Randolph's inimitable ridicule of bank- 
paper was doubtless illuminating, and gave to 
Calhoun the keynote. 

In 1830 occurred the Webster-Hayne debate. 

Steadily increasing tariff, rising floods of 
bank-paper, the war debt paid, the treasury 
plethoric, the spoils doctrine rapidly develop- 
ing, such were the features of this era of eight 
years while Calhoun presided over the Senate. 
He watched, listened, reflected, analyzed, 
probed to the bottom each governmental prob- 
lem, until he had mastered his subject as no 
other American before him, and none since. 

In 1830 occurred the historic breach with 
President Jackson. The official records reveal 
as the cause Calhoun's action (twelve years 
before) in Monroe's Cabinet upon the occasion 

31 Ibid., p. 357. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 4* 

of the Seminole War; but, cherchez la femme, 
says tradition. The Calhouns, it seems, re- 
fused social recognition to a Mrs. Eaton, whom 
the Chief Executive favored, but towards 
whom history, contemporary and subsequent, 
is disposed to be severe. Hinc iliac lachrymae. 
The effort at heroics on the part of "Old 
Hickory," the piteous plaint of "friends re- 
membered not" and "benefits forgot," at this 
distance appears no less than ridiculous. It 
was serious then. It must have cost Mr. Cal- 
houn some pains to expose, as he did, the hope- 
less jumble of facts and the violence to histori- 
cal sequence into which the President had been 
betrayed. 

This and other causes brought Mr. Calhoun 
into irreconcilable conflict with the adminis- 
tration. Malice, slander, and all uncharitable- 
ness, were henceforth showered on him in ever- 
increasing torrents. Accusations of desertion, 
inconsistency, disappointed ambition, and those 
noxious vapors emitted in all ages from the 
morasses of politics, constantly attended him. 
He once said himself, "He who acts honestly 
seems to be the greatest deceiver." 32 Here is 
a master-key to his career. Whoso possesses it 
understands readily the whole or any part. 

It is important to remember, in respect to 
this period, that when the tariff Act of 1828 — 
"the bill of abominations" — was on passage, 
appearances indicated that there would be a 

32 Correspondence, p. 232. 



42 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

tie in the Senate, and that the casting vote 
would thus fall to the Vice-President. Some 
of Mr. Calhoun's political adherents exhorted 
him to remain away from the chair, which, it 
seems, was by no means so unusual a practice 
as to excite any especial comment; for, by 
voting against the measure, he would bring 
down the displeasure of the manufacturers and 
all the influences that had conspired to concoct 
it, and thus greatly injure his prospects. Be it 
remembered that at this time (the breach with 
Jackson had not occurred — Jackson was not 
vet President) Mr. Calhoun stood second to 
none but Jackson in point of popularity 
throughout the country, in addition to the dis- 
tinction that had been earned by his talents and 
services. The Presidency was fairly waiting 
to drop into his lap. Those who possess the 
master-key are assured without the telling 
what course he pursued. He insisted on taking 
his place in the chair as usual. Not only this : 
outside of Congress, he took an open and de- 
cided stand against that measure, thus in- 
curring the full tide of popular displeasure, 
and completely shutting out the brilliant pros- 
pects before him for advancement to the Presi- 
dency. All of which is important only in the 
light of after events, and then only to those 
who do not understand the character of the 
man. Those who do find "explanation" of any 
sort superfluous, if not offensive. 

The next capacity in which Mr. Calhoun 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 43 

was to serve was that of specially chosen Sena- 
tor of the sovereign State of South Carolina. 
We shall then have to search for him upon the 
mountain tops. It requires some effort to rise 
to the proper height. Down in the plains, or 
lost in intervening hollows and thickly wooded 
ridges, it is impossible to see the view. He 
proclaims in no uncertain tone the objects that 
greet his vision ; behind, deep-buried in the 
past ; before, far-stretching in the future. The 
prospects comprises many ages and many 
nations. The mountain eminence is hard to 
gain. The view is well worth while. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Nullification. 

Contemporaries bear witness that Mr. Cal- 
houn himself felt that if the after times should 
take note of him, it would be principally on 
the score of Nullification. He wished, we are 
told, to be known as a "nullifier." Here is a 
hint. An utterance like this holds peculiar 
significance when it comes from one "with such 
large discourse, looking before and after" — 
seeing the centuries past and to come, as it has 
been given to few others to see. It denotes an 
event deserving the utmost consideration, the 
closest scrutiny. Nullification, he thought, 
would be preserved to memory when tariff, 
banks, and the like, were swallowed up in 
oblivion, and the sons of men looking around 
on strangely altered prospects. Part of his 
expectation is already realized, for it has 
come to pass that he is known as 'The Great 
Nullifier," however little the term as yet may 
be truly comprehended. 

It is characteristic of errant humanity to 
employ words and yet to lack the proper un- 
derstanding of them. \\ nence the Frenchman 
laughs in his sleeve, "La parole a ete donnee a 
riiomme pour deguiser sa pensee." The word 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 45 

"principle" has thus been greatly maltreated. 
"The principle of the thing" is often insisted 
upon. The "principles" of science, the "prin- 
ciples" of nature, the "principles" of morals, 
etc., such are some of the many services 
exacted from this much overworked vocable. 
But what is a principle ? Who will say ? Why 
did we throw tea overboard, which was a vio- 
lent act, and launch unnumbered oaths and 
epithets at royalty, obese and bovine? The 
virtuous first readers impart, "It was for prin- 
ciple" ; and so it was. It would appear that 
throwing tea over was principle, because the 
tax on tea was one of a class of taxes; that 
class of taxes in turn was one of a wider class 
of oppressive measures ; and all these successive 
classes taken together cover the whole range 
of tyranny. The specific tea-throwing, there- 
fore, in that it resisted a part of tyranny, re- 
sisted the whole of tyranny. If the resistance 
proved successful, not only would the burden 
of tea-tax be removed, but the burden of all 
taxes whatsoever, laid without representation. 
The small matter of tea at one end of the chain 
was coupled up, in other words, by a series 
of unbroken links with the extremely large 
matter of liberty at the other. Not the incon- 
siderable interests of a few for a short time, 
but the incalculable interests of great numbers 
for unknown time, were directly implicated. 
Hence it seems proper to unite with the first 
readers in saying that the act was important 



46 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

because of the "principle." But it is arguable 
whether further significance may be discovered 
in that mystic word than is here indicated. 

Knowledge is valuable in proportion as it is 
general. The knowledge that Plato ate a peach 
on such and such a day amounts to little. But 
the knowledge that Plato's teachings have 
dominated the minds of millions and directed 
the trend of whole centuries of thought is ac- 
corded greater dignity. In proportion as a 
discovery embraces a wide field of facts and 
explains a large number of occurrences, just 
in such proportion is it important and valuable. 

"The Senator from Delaware (Mr. Clay- 
ton) calls this metaphysical reasoning, which 
he says he cannot comprehend. If by meta- 
physics he means that scholastic refinement 
which makes distinctions without difference, 
no one can hold it in more utter contempt than 
I do; but if, on the contrary, he means the 
power of analysis and combination — that 
power which reduces the most complex idea 
into its elements, which traces causes to their 
first principle, and, by the power of generali- 
zation and combination, unites the whole in 
one harmonious system — then, so far from 
deserving contempt, it is the highest attribute 
of the human mind. It is the power which 
raises man above the brute, which distinguishes 
his faculties from mere sagacity, which he 
holds in common with inferior animals. It is 
this power which has raised the astronomer 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 47 

from being a mere gazer at the stars to the 
hi eh intellectual eminence of a Newton or a 
Laplace, and astronomy itself from a mere ob- 
servation of insulated facts into that noble 
science which displays to our admiration the 
system of the universe. And shall this high 
power of the mind, which has effected such 
wonders when directed to the laws which con- 
trol the material world, be forever prohibited, 
under a senseless cry of metaphysics, from 
being applied to the high purpose of political 
science and legislation? I hold them to be 
subject to laws as fixed as matter itself, and to 
be as fit a subject for the application of the 
highest intellectual power. Denunciation may, 
indeed, fall upon the philosophical inquirer into 
these first principles, as it did upon Galileo and 
Bacon when they first unfolded the great dis- 
coveries which have immortalized their names ; 
but the time will come when truth will prevail 
in spite of prejudice and denunciation, and 
when politics and legislation will be considered 
as much a science as astronomy and chemis- 
try." 33 

Newton, if those first readers are to be cred- 
ited, saw an apple fall. Gravity was revealed. 
Calhoun saw South Carolina falling from the 
stable equilibrium of liberty. Political gravity 
was recognized. There is a striking parallel- 
ism between the two cases, which may be car- 
ried far without doine violence to the meta- 



ls 

33 Works, II, p. 232. 



48 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

phor. One has application no less wide than 
space. The other applies to all the nations in 
all the ages. The balance of the stars strikes ad- 
miration dumb. To balance the nations, though 
an humbler, is yet a mighty task. It still is not 
beyond the reach of human hands. Surely 
this, if anything, merits attention and en- 
deavor. Inertia urges the planets forward; 
attraction holds them in their orbits. So power 
must be given to governments, but liberty must 
not be taken from the people. Force centri- 
fugal and centripetal must be set against each 
other, else wrack and ruin follow. Gravity 
remained undiscovered for many ages, for all 
the carpenters and masons. Many peoples, 
blindly and by accident, have availed them- 
selves of political gravity: witness Rome and 
England. In America for the first time was it 
laid bare and openly proclaimed. 

"Consent of the governed," grievously and 
slow worked out at Valley Forge and else- 
where, rests for its significance on political 
gravity. The Revolution discovered part of 
the superstructure of liberty. The foundation 
lay hidden from sight until Nullification. Po- 
litical gravity is self-interest. If unchecked, 
large will oppress small, many few, despots 
subjects, majorities minorities, the governing 
the governed. This last fact the Revolutionists 
appreciated. "Divine Rights" . and the like 
were thrown out on the dust heap. The people 
were pronounced sovereign. But, just as irre- 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 49 

sponsible rulers will oppress the ruled, just so, 
and for the same reason, will the major part 
of society oppress the minor. To secure 
suffrage is to guarantee responsibility in the 
law-maker as against those who elected him, 
but it is no guarantee to those who did not. 
Consent of the governed is a great funda- 
mental doctrine, but it must be understood that 
the consent of all the governed is intended. 
Suffrage secures the consent of only a part of 
the governed. 

'There would appear, indeed, a feebleness 
in our intellectual powers on political subjects 
when directed to large masses. We readily 
see why a single individual, as a ruler, would, 
if not prevented, oppress the rest of the com- 
munity ; but are at a loss to understand why 
seven millions would, if not also prevented, op- 
press six millions, as if the relative numbers 
on either side could in the least degree vary the 
principle. 

"Two powers are necessary to the existence 
and preservation of free States : a power on 
the part of the ruled to prevent rulers from 
abusing their authority, by compelling them to 
be faithful to their constituents, and which is 
effected through the right of suffrage; and a 
power to compel the parts of society to be just 
to one another, by compelling them to consult 
the interest of each other, which can only be 
effected, whatever may be the device for the 

34 Works, VI, p. 191. 

4 




50 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

purpose, by requiring the concurring assent of 
all the great and distinct interests of the com- 
munity to the measures of the government. 
This result is the sum total of all the contriv- 
ances adopted by free States to preserve their 
liberty, by preventing the conflicts between the 
several classes or parts of the community. 
Both powers are indispensable, the one as much 
so as the other." 35 * 

(i) By Suffrage, oppression by rulers is 
prevented. 

(2) By Nullification, oppression by majori- 
ties is prevented. 

The Revolution explained the first propo- 
sition. The Revolution gave one leg to liberty. 
Nullification is needed to supply the other. 
Self-interest will surely topple over liberty of 
the one-legged variety. 

If what is here asserted can be maintained, 
plainly it is matter of no little consequence. Tt 
should be remembered that whether the right 
of Nullification is given by the American Con- 
stitution is an entirely different question from 

35 Works, VI, p. 189. 

*With this compare the 51st Number of the Federalist, 
quoted in the South Carolina Exposition as coming from Hamil- 
ton, but by others attributed to Madison. The passages quoted 
in the Exposition are as follows: 

"It is of great importance in a republic not only to guard 
the society against the oppression of its rulers but to guard 
one part of the society against the injustice of the other part. 
Different interests necessarily exist in different classes of citi- 
zens. If a majority be united by a common interest, the rights 
of the minority will be insecure." Federalist, p. 292, and again, 
at p. 293: 

"In a society, under the forms of which the stronger faction 
can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly 
be said to reign as in a state of nature where the weaker^ indi- 
vidual is not secured against the violence of the stronger." 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 51 

the question whether such a right is requisite 
to liberty. Great interest may attach to the 
first as a matter of history, but infinitely more 
important and absorbing is the second. The 
whole of history may be wiped from the slate 
with a wet sponge, but the momentous signifi- 
cance of the matter remains not one whit di- 
minished. Here is another of those unbroken 
chains, with an apparently unimportant matter 
at one end indissolubly linked with matter at 
the other of world-wide importance. The con- 
tention is that the absence from the structure 
of government of some such balance will with 
the utmost certainty occasion a series of dis- 
asters — party strife, spoils, corruption, loss of 
patriotism, substitution of party zeal, disorder, 
conflict, and finally military despotism. On 
the other hand, if this conservative force is 
present, the series will be moderation, har- 
mony, constant improvement — mental and 
moral — in occupants of public office, fervid 
patriotism, power and glory abroad, true pros- 
perity, peace, and liberty at home. If this 
contention strike anywhere near the truth, then 
an investigation is as timely- now as it was in 
i S3 3. The subject will remain as fresh and 
unexhausted five hundred years hence as it is 
today. Greater moment can no inquiry 
possess. Yet, great as it is, it is no greater 
than the difficulty of attracting attention to it. 
Calhoun did all that he could in this behalf. 
For twenty years he devoted his transcendent 



52 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

talent to it. He viewed the matter, with extra- 
ordinary versatility, in a thousand different 
lights; he expounded, elucidated, demon- 
strated, it past controversy. He entered an 
explanation of it on the record of American 
history that (one would think) the blind could 
hardly fail to see. Yet, for a spell, lethal 
apathy befogs the vision of mankind; they 
bungle and stumble grievously along the same 
old road, devious, rocky, overgrown with 
brambles; where the least attention would in- 
sure a broad highway, commodious and 
straight and ever improving with increase of 
travel. 

The imperviousness of mankind to an idea 
is no less than wonderful. There seems to be 
an instinctive antipathy to truth. Columbus 
said the world was round. He and others (by 
sailing around it) proceeded to substantiate the 
contention. Here was an argument, one would 
suppose, of no little cogency ; but the advocates 
of the flat theory put old Christopher in jail. 
Today there are few who dispute the round 
theory. There has never been a better instance 
of this imperviousness than the case in hand. 
Even in America, where from the first every- 
one has been on notice that a great political 
experiment was trying, where an extraordinary 
amount of attention has been devoted to gov- 
ernment and Constitution, where, if anywhere, 
one would have looked for that eternal vigi- 
lance which, we are told, is the price of liberty; 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 53 

even here blindness, apathy, stolid indiffer- 
ence, is encountered on every side. It would 
not have been thus could the shades of the 
delegates of 1788 have been called from their 
tombs and convened to hear the words of 
Calhoun as he addressed the Senate in 1833. 
All the difficulties which they had groped after 
and struggled with in darkness and uncer- 
tainty, before the fact, had now, by fifty 
precious years of time, been tested, revealed, 
declared. Thus Calhoun had the incalculable 
advantage over his predecessors of making up 
judgment after, instead of before, the fact. 
Could an assembly such as that supposed have 
been convoked, a few hours would have ar- 
ranged the Constitution, so as far to surpass 
any expectations ever entertained for it by the 
most sanguine of the Revolutionary patriots. 
The heaviest care of the convention seems to 
have been to provide against the disruptive ten- 
dency of a State. The very opposite tendency 
time revealed to be the real danger. 

Practical instances of the beneficent influence 
of check, veto, or nullification, are not few nor 
hard to find in history. Mr. Calhoun makes 
the point that the governments of Europe as 
a class were federative, whereas those of Asia 
were of the absolute character. Thus, he 
thinks, Plataea and Marathon take on a new 
significance, as the triumph of limited over ab- 
solute government, and the determination of 
the preeminence of Europe over Asia, freedom 



54 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

over despotism. Rome, he points out, fell into 
great disorder, until Patrician and Plebeian 
struck a compromise. Tribunes of the people 
were then provided, who had a veto on the 
execution as well as the passage of the laws. 
Under this arrangement (the superficial call 
it anarchy) Rome stamped her name upon the 
earth, so that no future generation could fail 
to read it. In England, three estates, King, 
Nobility, and People, each have a check on 
the other. Moreover, their constitution is such 
that to increase the revenue is to increase the 
conservative influence of the government. But 
most remarkable instance of all, for Americans 
at least, is the adoption of their own constitu- 
tion. From the very outset all realized that the 
veto of one State was sufficient to discard a 
suggestion. Xo provision could stand a chance 
for adoption which did not meet the approval 
and secure the vote of each State. Here was 
the dominant influence which guided the de- 
liberations. Who does not see that this 
beneficent force was calculated to prune away 
every superfluous suggestion, every irrele- 
vance, every paragraph and section which was 
not directed to the common welfare? It is 
very strange that no one besides Mr. Calhoun 
seems ever to have insisted upon this view. 
That accurate and scientific observer, Mr. 
Bryce, overlooks it wholly. In searching for 
the causes of the excellence of the Constitution, 
he enumerates many others, but this, the cen- 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 55 

tral and most important of all, he wholly omits. 
The movement of the ship of state is the re- 
sultant of many opposing forces. Only when 
the divergent interests of the several constitu- 
ent portions are balanced against each other 
will the ship move along the line of the general 
welfare. The Constitution was such a result- 
ant. It was the unanimous verdict of thirteen 
jurymen States. Mr, Calhoun also points to 
the jury as a notable instance of the merit of 
the veto power. Why, in the matter of life and 
liberty, is the unanimous voice of twelve de- 
manded? The two instances, in themselves, 
would seem to answer all objections. If the 
principle of veto be anarchical, then the Con- 
stitution of the United States resulted from 
an assembly presided over by the spirit of 
anarchy, and the same spirit presides wherever 
the life or liberty of an Anglo-Saxon is in 
jeopardy. 

Such is the nature in general of the con- 
servative force in government. Whether such 
a power exists under the American Constitu- 
tion was the question at issue in 1833. Even 
if it was conclusively established at that time 
that it does not so exist, the question remains 
open whether it ought to exist. There are 
those who refuse to consider the question. 
They are minded to put it away. They pro- 
nounce the words "academic discussion," and 
so resolutely place themselves beyond the pale 
or possibility of reason. "Academic discus- 



56 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

sion" indeed ! The discussion on which inevit- 
ably depends the liberty of Americans, impli- 
cating in its consequences no less important 
practical affairs than the education of children, 
the growth of literature, the progress of the 
arts and sciences; the discussion whether there 
shall be peace and harmony and progress, and 
Americans shall dwell together in unity in 
the mansion builded by the patriot fathers ; or, 
whether there shall be discord, strife, corrup- 
tion, dictators, despotism, bayonets and bullets ! 
Yes, it is a discussion involving, save the 
mark, consequences of dollars and cents ! Is 
not the business of throat-cutting expensive, 
especially when it is all in the family? Such 
are the consequences to be shaped according as 
this "academic discussion'' is determined one 
way or the other. 

The matter of tea and liberty above referred 
to may now again be called up to advantage. 
This time it is tariff and liberty. In 1816, we 
saw Calhoun advocating the tariff without 
reservation. It was in reality a revenue meas- 
ure. It afforded incidental protection. The 
metamorphosis of a revenue into a protective 
tariff is more natural and easy than any sung 
by Ovid. In 1820, the "sturdy beggars," re- 
ferred to by Randolph, were eager and hungry 
at the doors of Congress. Result, more tariff. 
In 1824, ditto, ditto. In 1828, ditto, ditto. 
Here was a twelve-year crescendo of tariff. 
Protection, at first blinked at and sidled in, 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 57 



gradually grows, until it is in possession of the 
whole ground. People had more sense in those 
days, and conditions were simpler. The South- 
ern Exporting States, the "Staple States," saw 
what was going on, and seeing, wonderful oc- 
currence, understood ! South Carolina, in par- 
ticular, saw with the keenest vision. They ob- 
jected, they petitioned, they memorialized, they 
protested. Result, more tariff. The well- 
named "Bill of Abominations" (1828) im- 
posed duties amounting to one-half the value 
of all imports. It amounted to the confiscation 
of a large proportion of the annual produce of 
the staple States. Under these circumstances. 
South Carolina, led by Calhoun, prepared and 
presented the celebrated Exposition and Pro- 
test, wherein she held up for the first time the 
shield of her sovereignty, and indicated that, 
if not relieved, she would, however reluctantly, 
make use of it. 

Tariff for protection, said South Carolina, is 
unconstitutional. It is beyond the powers 
granted to Congress. If this power be yielded ; 
moreover, if the right of deciding whether or 
not the power is constitutional, be yielded, then 
must all power be yielded, and the sovereignty 
of the commonwealth entirely absorbed. We, 
by the Constitution, granted certain powers to 
Congress; we claim the right to declare what 
was then actually granted and what was not; 
if any other tribunal than that which made the 
grant is accorded authority, in case of dispute, 



58 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

to determine the limits of the grant, then must 
the sovereignty which we claim forever vanish. 

Thus the issue was much broader than any 
mere tariff schedule. The great issue was di- 
rectly involved, whether the people of South 
Carolina still constituted a constitution-making 
body, or were degraded to the dependent con- 
dition of a mere county or corporation. As to 
the issues involved, and their connection, there 
is the most perfect parallelism between 1833 
and 1861. In 1833 the , special question was 
tariff, which by necessary implication involved 
sovereignty and local self-government. In 
1 86 1 the special question was domestic slavery, 
similarly involving the same wider issue. In 
1833 civil war was narrowly averted. Had 
the temper of opposing parties been as bloody 
as in 1 86 1, it might then have been precipi- 
tated; and, had that occurred, no historian 
would have been troubled with the question 
whether slavery caused the war. 

Four years elapsed from the time of the 
Exposition before things came to a head. It 
is essential to a correct understanding of sub- 
sequent events to note that South Carolina, at 
the same time that she was declaring this doc- 
trine, was supporting the candidacy of General 
Jackson. She helped to elect him, hoping for 
relief from that change ; but after Jackson was 
elected, the policy against which South Caro- 
lina had thus vigorously protested not only 
was not amended but was reenacted and de- 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 59 

clared to v be perpetual. If, as Jackson after- 
wards proclaimed, the doctrine and measures 
of South Carolina were treasonable, the time 
for him to say so was before, not after, receiv- 
ing her vote. His lack of education must be 
invoked to save his consistency. 

The policy of 1828 was confirmed and de- 
clared permanent in 1832, and then South Car- 
olina raised high her shield, and made a final 
stand upon her sovereignty. Jackson's procla- 
mation was issued. Robert Y. Hayne, whose 
ingenuous, buoyant disposition made him the 
darling of his people, had been recalled from 
the Senate to take charge of the State as Gov- 
ernor, and Calhoun resigned the' Vice-Presi- 
dency and was substituted in Hayne' s seat. 
Under such circumstances, amidst the breath- 
less suspense of the whole country, Congress 
convened, and Calhoun took his place in the 
Senate, the place he was to occupy almost with- 
out interruption to the day of his death, and 
the place with which he is most often asso- 
ciated. It was perhaps the place most appro- 
priate to him. There had been wild talk of his 
arrest upon arrival in Washington. 

The vulgar, very vulgar, idea is that Cal- 
houn and his State rebelled against the national 
government, and were cowed into submission 
by the dreadful Jackson. The idea is simply 
ridiculous. It merits no consideration what- 
ever. The dispute, by the masterly tact of Clay 
and his great influence, was compromised, but 



60 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

the compromise surrendered all that South 
Carolina contended for. It virtually surren- 
dered the right of "protection," and a diminish- 
ing scale of duties' was provided, under which, 
in the course of ten years, the duties were to 
be reduced to the needs of the government, 
economically administered. He is very untrue 
to the traditions of his State who would feel 
any disposition to boast offensively of her 
triumph in this contest. Proud of her he can- 
not but feel, but his pride has the solid founda- 
tion to rest upon, that she stood for justice and 
the Constitution, for the safety of the Union 
and liberty. Regard for the Union, no less 
than reverential, always characterized the lead- 
ers of the State, but all regard was deemed 
spurious and ill considered which did not at 
the same time harmonize with self-respect and 
a correct estimation of her own rights. 

Calhoun's speech on the "Force Bill," in 
February, 1833, is probably the greatest of his 
career. The issues then involved are the largest 
and most important that can engage the atten- 
tion of mankind. The effort is worthy of the 
occasion. Here may be found the substance 
of what is his peculiar contribution to the 
science of government. If mankind had no 
other foundation on which to rear up liberty, 
here is to be found foundation broad enough. 
His eloquence on this occasion is of the very 
highest order, eloquence drawn from the deeps 
of a deep and noble nature. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 6l 

«* * * J t J ias ^ een sa i ( J t l iat t j le biU c j e _ 

clares war against South Carolina. No. It 
decrees a massacre of her citizens ! War has 
something ennobling about it, and, with all its 
horrors, brings into action the highest quali- 
ties, intellectual and moral. It was, perhaps, 
in the order of Providence that it should be 
permitted for that very purpose. But this bill 
declares no war, except, indeed, it be that 
which savages wage — a war, not against the 
community, but the citizens of whom that 
community is composed. But I regard it as 
worse than savage warfare — as an attempt to 
take away life under the color of law, without 
the trial by jury, or any other safegard which 
the Constitution has thrown around the life 
of the citizen ! It authorizes the President, or 
even his deputies, when they may suppose the 
law to be violated, without the intervention of 
a court or jury, to kill without mercy or dis- 
crimination ! 

"It has been said by the Senator from Ten- 
nessee (Mr. Grundy) to be a measure of peace! 
Yes ; such peace as the wolf gives to the lamb, 
the kite to the dove! Such peace as Russia 
gives to Poland, or death to its victim! A 
peace, by extinguishing the political existence 
of the State, by awing her into an abandonment 
of the exercise of every power which consti- 
tutes her a sovereign community. It is to 
South Carolina a question of self-preservation ; 
and I proclaim it that, should this bill pass, 



62 THE LIFE CF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

and an attempt be made to enforce it, it will 
be resisted, at every hazard — even that of death 
itself. Death is not the greatest calamity: 
there are others still more terrible to the free 
and brave, and among them may be placed 
the loss of liberty and honor. There are thou- 
sands of her brave sons who, if need be, are 
prepared cheerfully to lay down their lives in 
defense of the State, and the great principles 
of constitutional liberty for which she is con- 
tending. God forbid that this should become 
a necessity ! It never can be, unless this gov- 
ernment is resolved to bring the question to 
extremity, when her gallant sons will stand 
prepared to perform the last duty — to die 
nobly." 36 

"It is said that the bill ought to pass, because 
the law must be enforced. The law must be 
enforced ! The imperial edict must be exe- 
cuted ! It is under such sophistry, couched in 
general terms, without looking to the limita- 
tions which must ever exist in the practical 
exercise of power, that the most cruel and 
despotic acts ever have been covered. It was 
such sophistry as this that cast Daniel into the 
lion's den, and the three innocents into the 
fiery furnace. Under the same sophistry, the 
bloody edicts of Nero and Caligula were exe- 
cuted. The law must be enforced. Yes ; the 
act imposing the 'tea tax must be executed.' 
This was the very argument which impelled 

36 Works, II, p. 229. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 63 

Lord North and his administration to that mad 
career which forever separated us from the 
British crown. Under a similar sophistry, 
'that religion must be protected,' how many 
massacres have been perpetrated? and how 
many martyrs have been tied to the stake? 
What ! acting on this vague abstraction, are 
you prepared to enforce a law without con- 
sidering whether it be just or unjust, constitu- 
tional or unconstitutional? Will you collect 
money when it is acknowledged that it is not 
wanted? He who earns the money, who digs 
it from the earth with the sweat of his brow, 
has a just title to it against the universe. No 
one has a right to touch it without his consent 
except his government, and this only to the 
extent of its legitimate wants; to take more 
is robbery, and you propose by this bill to 
enforce robbery by murder. Yes ; to this result 
you must come, by this miserable sophistry, 
this vague abstraction of enforcing the law, 
without a regard to the fact whether the law 
be just or unjust, constitutional or unconstitu- 
tional. 

"In the same spirit, we are told that the 
Union must be preserved, without regard to 
the means. And how is it proposed to pre- 
serve the Union? By force! Does any man 
in his senses believe that this beautiful struc- 
ture — this harmonious aggregate of States, 
produced by the joint consent of all — can be 
preserved by force? Its very introduction will 



64 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

be certain destruction to this Federal Union. 
No ; no. You cannot keep the States united in 
their constitutional and federal bonds by force. 
Force may, indeed, hold the parts together, but 
such union would be the bond between master 
and slave — a union of exaction on one side 
and of unqualified obedience on the other. 
That obedience which, we are told by the Sena- 
tor from Pennsylvania (Mr. Wilkins), is the 
Union! Yes; exaction on the side of the 
master ; for this very bill is intended to collect 
what can be no longer called taxes — the volun- 
tary contribution of a free people — but tribute 
— tribute to be collected under the mouths of 
the cannon ! Your custom-house is already 
transferred to a garrison, and that garrison 
with its batteries turned, not against the enemy 
of your country, but on subjects (I will not say 
citizens) on whom you propose to levy con- 
tributions. Has reason fled from our borders ? 
Have we ceased to reflect? It is madness to 
suppose that the Union can be preserved by 
force. I tell you plainly that the bill, should it 
pass, cannot be enforced. It will prove only a 
blot upon your statute book, a reproach to the 
year, and a disgrace to the American Senate. 
I repeat it will not be executed. * * * " 37 

"I consider the bill* as far worse, and more 
dangerous to libertv, than the tariff. It has 
been most wantonly passed, when its avowed 



37 Works, II, p. 233. 
*Force Bill. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 65 

object no longer justified it. I consider it as 
chains forged and fitted to the limbs of the 
States, and hung up to be used when occasion 
may require. We are told in order to justify 
the passage of this fatal measure, that it was 
necessary to present the olive branch with one 
hand and the sword with the other. We scorn 
the alternative. You have no right to present 
the sword. The Constitution never put the in- 
strument in your hands to be employed against 
a State ; and as to the olive branch, whether we 
receive it or not will not depend on your 
menace but on our own estimate of what is due 
to ourselves and the rest of the community in 
reference to the difficult subject on which we 
have taken issue." 38 

Nullification forms the pivot of this whole 
period of American history. It completely 
turned the trend of the current of affairs. 
Tariffs, banks, spoils, were shaken to their 
very center. It stayed the march of consoli- 
dation until the madness of the Mexican War 
and its sequelae swept everything before it. 

Mr. Calhoun was unfaltering and emphatic 
in his assertion that Nullification was a "peace- 
ful remedy." It seems impossible to deny that 
the event justified the assertion. It did remedy 
the evil existing, and, although it went to the 
verge of civil war, civil war was averted. 

"Such," he says (meaning war), "would be 
the certain effect of secession ; and if Nullifica- 

38 Works, II, p. 307. 

5 



66 THE LIFE CF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

tion be secession — if it be but a different name 
for the same thing — such, too, must be its 
effect." 30 He then goes on to show the differ- 
ence between the two. It will be seen that he 
maintained that Nullification was peaceful, but 
that secession would surely be followed by war. 
How well founded both predictions were we 
now have history to show. 

It is sometimes maintained that argument is 
unprofitable and endless. It is only so where 
disputants are irrational. Whether Nullifica- 
tion is a right reserved under the American 
Constitution is a dispute which with a little 
care may be finally disposed of in compara- 
tively brief compass. Webster himself ad- 
mitted that if the Constitution is truly a com- 
pact of sovereign States, Nullification and all 
the rest followed as a necessary corollary. He 
argued against Calhoun that it is not such a 
compact.* Calhoun answered the argument. 
Reply to that answer was never made by Web- 
ster, nor ever will, nor ever can, be made by 
anyone. Nevertheless, to those who are dis- 
posed to argue still, a few issues, simply 
framed, may be presented: i. Is it proper to 
take a distinction between law-making and con- 
stitution-making power? 2. If it is, where, in 
the United States, does the constitution- 
making power reside? 3. Where, under the 
American system, does the right of eminent 



30 Works, VI, p. 167. 
*See Appendix A. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 67 

domain reside? 4. Are the States, then, sov- 
ereign? 5. Did they divide powers, granting 
part specifically to the Federal Government, 
and reserving" the rest to themselves? 6. Did 
they, in granting powers, part with the right 
of saying what they then intended to grant ; 
did they part with this right in favor of any 
tribunal at any time ; and, if they did, when, 
to whom, and by what instrument ? 7. Can 
they part with this power without ceasing to be 
sovereign ? Madison's argument answered 
these questions, and is reen forced by the argu- 
ment of Jefferson. Calhoun has recast, filled 
out, completed the whole. There has been no 
answer ; there can be none. 

Some think that the Civil War settled all 
these questions. It settled not one — any more 
than a head-end collision settles the question 
how to build boilers, or what kind of fuel to 
put into them. The question is as open as it 
ever was. It will remain open until it is set- 
tled right. Without Nullification, or its 
equivalent, there can be no liberty. Without 
liberty there can be no peace. 

Nullification is an indispensable police force 
for the arrest of disorderly statutes. To object 
to nullification, that it is anarchical, because 
it would disturb just laws, is just as reasonable 
as it would be to abolish municipal police for 
fear they would arrest orderly citizens. Only 
to tyrants is nullification anarchy. To them 
it is hateful anarchv, because it disturbs the 



68 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

law which is their will. Without nullification 
there will be increase of disorderly statutes, of 
subservient statute-makers, of tyrannical stat- 
ute-enforcers. 

If nullification is a doubtful right, a consti- 
tutional convention should be at once called, 
for the express purpose of rendering it certain. 



CHAPTER V. 
Tariff. 

For the next ten years (1833-43) Mr. Cal- 
houn was uninterruptedly in the Senate. 
Even if his career had come to a close imme- 
diately after his speech on the Force Bill, he 
would have left behind him abundant sign 
posts to guide the future generations. He had 
delved to the very bottom of the problem of 
government and had mastered all the elements. 
He was in possession of the priceless legacy of 
Hamilton, Madison, and Jefferson, rendered 
still more precious now in the light of fifty 
years of experience. He understood the phil- 
osophy of politics as none before and none 
after him have understood it, and already in 
1833 he had entered the principal results on the 
record. But almost twenty years still remained 
to him in which to serve his country and man- 
kind. His speeches of this period are heavy 
with the fruit of wisdom. If only his counsels 
had prevailed, what an American Union were 
here ! The American people are a full century 
behind their history. 

The speeches of that period throw a flood of 
light on all the leading questions of the day — 
tariff, finance, public domain, and abolitionism. 



70 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

A sketch has been given of nullification ; it may 
not now prove unprofitable to give some ac- 
count of his views on the several other matters 
mentioned. Those deserving most attention at 
the present day, as bearing directly on current 
issues, are what above were accounted the 
threefold manifestation of national scrofula — 
tariff, banks, and spoils. The body politic to- 
day is full of sores and symptoms characteristic 
of all three. 

There is much in some names. The word 
"protection/' for instance, almost without as- 
sistance, has accomplished results little short 
of miraculous. From 1789 to 1861 (some one 
has calculated it) that word took $2,770,- 
000,000 from Southern pockets. From 1861 
to date, as is the phrase of accountants, it has 
probably taken at least as much again, which, 
with interest, to resort once more to the habit 
of accountants, would build several miles of 
railroad. There is much truth in the witty 
assertion that American politics consist of 
raising and lowering the tariff (that is, if the 
words "and lowering" be first stricken out). 
More than eighty years has this issue been 
before the American people. Seventy years 
since, South Carolina, led by Calhoun, ex- 
plained and exposed the whole thing. Nulli- 
fication, it is true, brought the system to the 
earth : "The protective system, which has been 
the cause of all the mischief, has fallen pros- 
trate before it in the dust. He who undertakes 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. "J I 

to revive its putrid carcass will perish in the 
attempt" (1839). 40 The "carcass," however, 
by some means (not miraculous) got itself 
resurrected, and abides with us to this hour, a 
living leper. 

The protective system may be regarded as 
the last remnant of the medieval and long since 
exploded "mercantile theory/' which made 
gold and silver the summum bonum of econ- 
omics; restrictions on imports means neces- 
sarily influx of specie. 

Protection is fully considered by Mr. Cal- 
houn in all its principal bearings. 

A. Effects on the Wealth of the Country as 
a Whole. 

Protection actually causes a loss in aggre- 
gate wealth. He who produces a protected 
article, by supposition, would make no profit 
without the duty. The difference between the 
profit on the protected article and the amount 
of the duty is the least that this loss can 
amount to. (The case supposed is one where 
the duty is not prohibitory.) Suppose A pro- 
duces an article at a cost of 50 cents. The 
same article sells under free competition at 
40 cents. A duty of 50 per cent, is laid. The 
price will then be 60 cents. The amount lost 
to the community would be at least 10 cents. 
Calhoun estimates in 1828 that this amount 
would be fully 30 per cent, of the value of the 
articles demanding protection. Be it remem- 

40 Works, III, p. 381. 



J2 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

bered that this is not merely giving to one what 
has been taken from another — it is decreeing 
by law the waste of so much actual wealth ; it 
is, as Air. Mill has since observed, the same 
thing as digging a hole and burying so much 
gold in it. 

B. Effects on the South. The South ex- 
ports say two-thirds of all exports. She pays, 
therefore, two-thirds of the duties, although 
containing one-third of the population. It is 
a mistake to say the "consumer pays," and 
therefore that the North pays in proportion to 
population. For imports and exports must 
balance. Our two-thirds of the exports pay 
for two-thirds of the imports. To pay for the 
remaining one-third of the imports exhausts 
your one-third of the exports. Therefore, the 
means of paying for what more than one-third 
of the imports you consume must be drawn 
from our two-thirds. In other words, we pay 
not only two-thirds of the revenue, but we also 
furnish you with the means of purchasing all 
that you consume in excess of the one-third of 
the imports for which your own exports pay. 
The way in which this is accomplished is by a 
forced purchase by us from you at advanced 
prices of the articles which formerly we pur- 
chased abroad at open market prices. Of our 
wealth, part goes into the treasury, part goes 
into your pockets, and part (as above shown) 
is lost to society. The outcome of the sys- 
tem, as described by a brilliant and ethereal 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. JT> 

young Carolinian, prematurely snatched away, 
Warren R. Davis, is, for the South, "Robinson 
Crusoe and a goat-skin."* 

C. Effects on the North. One effect, in ad- 
dition to those already incidentally described. 
is the crippling of navigation. Massachusetts 
and Webster were very explicit on this point 
in 1820, when they resolved the tariff a very 
bad thing, in which they were correct. But 
one of the worst effects to the North is that 
the system necessarily cripples her best natural 
customer, the South. It also renders the North 
unable to compete for the world market for the 
sale of her domestic manufactures. 

D. Internationally. Exports must equal im- 
ports. Protection prohibits a certain propor- 
tion of imports. This must be balanced by 
the influx of specie. The process will continue 
until the prohibited articles again find their 
way in, for increase of imports is necessary to 

*The statement of the text seems to be a fair account of 
the Exposition as to this point. Careful examination would 
appear to reveal that the doctrine, to be complete, should be 
amended in one particular. Suppose in the case of the text, 
that the South received in supplies from the North one-half of 
the value of the South's exports, the South furnishing to the 
North none of the South's own products in exchange. It is 
plain that, to balance, the South would have to turn over to the 
North one-half of the two-thirds imports from abroad. In this 
case, one-half of the North's products would go abroad; the 
other one-half to the South. Of the South's products, all would 
go abroad; one-half would be returned in foreign, one-half in 
Northern, products. In order to compute the final distribution 
of the burden, it is necessary to analyze the domestic, as well 
as the foreign, exchanges, and to determine to what extent the 
price of supplies received by the South from the North is under 
the provisions of the tariff enhanced. That the results indi- 
cated in the argument of the Exposition are correct is unques- 
tionable; but the doctrine that the producer of the exports 
necessarily furnishes the whole of the means _ of purchasing an 
equal portion of the imports would seem, without the present 
qualification, untenable. 




74 THE LIFE CF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

balance the exports. But when this occurs, 
further protection becomes necessary. For- 
eigners will not continue to send us specie. 
They will tend to restrict their use of our prod- 
ucts, and to pay less for what they do use. 
This feature is thus stated : 

"Every increase of protective duties is neces- 
sarily followed, in the present condition of our 
country, by an expansion of the currency, 
which must continue to increase till the in- 
creased price of production, caused by the ex- 
pansion, shall be equal to the duty imposed, 
when a new tariff will be required." 41 

Such are the general principles relating to 
this subject. In the "Exposition" of South 
Carolina (1828), written by Calhoun, and in 
his speeches of February 5, 1840, and March 
16, 1842, as well as elsewhere, may be found 
the statement of these principles, so clear, so 
explicit, so complete, that dispute would seem 
forever put at rest. But still the leper lives. It 
is surely high time he were thrown to the dogs 
and vultures. 

"That the manufacturing States, even in 
their own opinion, bear no share of the burden 
of the tariff in reality we may infer with the 
greatest certaintv from their conduct. The 
fact that they urgently demand an increase, 
and consider every addition as a blessing, and 
a failure to obtain one as a curse, is the strong- 



11 Works, III, p. 422. Speech, February 5, 1840, which see 
passim. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 75 

est confession that whatever burden it im- 
poses in reality falls, not on them, but on 
others. Men ask not for burdens, but bene- 
fits." 42 

"To have a just conception of its operation 
in this particular, it will be necessary to bear 
in mind that the South and the West are the 
great consumers of the products of the North 
and East ; and that the capacity of the South to 
consume depends on her great agricultural 
staples almost exclusively; and that their sale 
and consumption depend mainly on the foreign 
market. What, then, would be the effect of 
reducing her exports to the point indicated, say 
to forty or fifty millions of dollars ? Most cer- 
tainly to diminish her capacity to consume the 
products of the North and East, in the same 
proportion, followed by a corresponding 
diminution of the revenue, and the commerce 
and navigation of the country. But the evil 
would not end there, great as it would be. It 
would have an equal or- greater effect on the 
consumption of the West. That great and 
growing section is the provision portion of the 
Union. Her wide and fertile region gives her 
an unlimited capacity to produce grain and 
stock of every description ; and these, for the 
most part, find their market in the staple States. 
Cut off their exports, and their market would 
be destroyed; and with it, the means of the 
West, to a great extent, for carrying on trade 

42 Works, VI, p. 5- 



/6 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

t 

with the Northern and Eastern States. To the 
same extent, they and the staple States would 
be compelled to produce their own supplies, and 
would thus from consumers be converted into 
rivals with the other section." 43 

r 'It is full time for the North, and more es- 
pecially for New England, to pause and pon- 
der. If they would hear the voice of one who 
has ever wished them well, I would say that 
the renewal of the protective system would be 
one of the greatest calamities that could befall 
you. Whatever incidental good could be de- 
rived from it you have already acquired. It 
would, if renewed, prove a pure, unadulterated 
evil. The very reverse is your true policy. 
The great question for you to decide is how to 
command the foreign market. The home mar- 
ket, of itself, is too scanty for your skill, your 
activity, your energy, your unequaled inven- 
tive powers, your untiring industry, your 
vastly increased population, and accumulated 
capital. Without the foreign market, your un- 
exampled march to wealth and improvement 
must come to a stand. How, then, are you to 
obtain the command of the foreign market] 3 
That is the vital question." 44 

"I do not wish, in what I have said, to be 
considered the advocate of low wages. I am 
in favor of high wages ; and agree that the 
higher the wages, the stronger the evidence 
of prosperity: provided (and that is the im- 

43 Works, III, p. 423. 
"Works, III, p. 431. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 77 

portant point) they are so naturally, by the 
effectiveness of industry, and not in conse- 
quence of an inflated currency, or any artificial 
regulation. When I say the effectiveness of 
•industry, I mean to comprehend whatever is 
calculated to make the labor of one country 
more productive than that of others. I take 
into consideration skill, activity, energy, in- 
vention, perfection of instruments and means, 
mechanical and chemical ; abundance of capital, 
natural and acquired; facility of intercourse 
and exchanges, internal and external; and, in 
a word, whatever may add to the productive- 
ness of labor. High wages, when attributable 
to these, are the certain evidence of productive- 
ness, and are, on that account, and that only, 
the evidence of prosperity. It is easily under- 
stood. Just as such labor would command, 
when compared with the less productive, a 
greater number of pounds of sugar or tea — a 
greater quantity of clothing or food — in the 
same proportion would it command more 
specie, that is, higher wages, for a day's work. 
But, sir, here is the important consideration . 
high wages from such a cause require no pro- 
tection — no, not more than the high wages of 
a man against the low wages of a boy, of man 
against woman, or the skilful and energetic 
against the awkward and feeble. On the con- 
trary, the higher such wages, the less the pro- 
tection required." 45 

45 Works, III, p. 435. 



78 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

"Open the way, remove all restraints, 
take off the swaddling cloth that bound the 
limbs of infancy, and let the hardy, intel- 
ligent and enterprising sons of New England 
march forth fearlessly to meet the world 
in competition, and she will prove, in a few 
years, the successful rival of old England. 
The foreign market once commanded, all con- 
flicts between the different sections and in- 
dustry of the country would cease. It is better 
for us, and you, that our cotton should go out 
in yarn and goods than in the raw state ; and 
when that is done, the interests of all the parts 
of this great Confederacy — North, East, 
South, and West — with every variety of its 
pursuits, would be harmonized ; but not until 
then." 40 

u So far from being an opponent to manu- 
facturing industry, there is not one within the 
reach of my voice who puts a higher estimate 
on those arts, mechanical and chemical, by 
which matter is subjected to the dominion of 
mind. I regard them as the very basis of civili- 
zation, and the principal means designed by 
Providence for the future progress and im- 
provement of our race. They will be found in 
progress to react on the moral and political 
world, thereby producing greater and more 
salutary changes in both than all other causes 
combined. 



47 



"• Works, III, p. 436. 
47 Works, IV, p. 103. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 79 

In the speeches of February 5, 1840, and 
March 16, 1842, Mr. Calhoun took the period 
from 1824 to 1840 in the history of this coun- 
try for illustration of these principles; If any 
man can read these speeches, examine the sta- 
tistics there collated, and still doubt, then is 
the genus homo ill-defined as rational. ( See 
note at end of chapter.) 

Not without interest at the present day is 
this passage : "The question, in what manner 
the loss and 2;ain of the system distribute them- 
selves among the several classes of society, is 
intimately connected with that of their distri- 
bution among the several sections. Few sub- 
jects present more important points for con- 
sideration. * * * No system can be more 
efficient to rear up a moneyed aristocracy. Its 
tendency is to make the poor poorer, and the 
rich richer. Heretofore, in our country, this 
tendency has displayed itself principally in its 
effects, as regards the different sections — but 
the time will come when it will produce the 
same results between the several classes in the 
manufacturing States. After we are ex- 
hausted, the contest will be between the capital- 
ists and operatives ; for into these two classes 
it must, ultimately, divide society." 48 

The whole protection humbug is in reality 
no more than a visionary scheme to tax one's 
self rich. If the theory were sound, every 
nation on earth could attain the most exalted 

48 Works, VI, p. 25. 



80 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

eminence by merely imposing duties on its im- 
ports. 

"Protection, indeed! Call it tribute, levy, 
exaction, monopoly, plunder; or, if these be too 
harsh, call it charity, assistance, aid — anything 
rather than protection, with which it has not 
a feature in common." 49 



49 Works, IV, p. 179- 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 



8l 



TABLE A.— DOMESTIC EXPORTS. 



Years. 


Domestic 


Years. 


Domestic 




Exports. 




Exports. 


^c 


fl82 5 . . . 


$66,941,745 




r i8 3 3- • • 


$70,317,698 


.2 o 


1826 






53,o55-7io 




1834. 




81,034,162 


&* 


1827 






58,921,691 


<L> «J 


i835- 




101,189,082 


Ph <u 


J 1828 






50,669,669 


<u 


1836. 




106,916,680 


mP 


1829 






55,700,193 


T3 3 


1837. 




95,564,414 


.SPh 


1830 






59,462,029 


&P 


1838. 




96,033,821 


3 -« 


1 83 1 






61,277,057 




1839. 




103,533,891 


Go I 1832 






63,137,470 




1 1840. 




113,762,617 




$469,198,564 




$768,352,365 


(From Works, IV, pp. 136, 137.) 




TABLE B.— AMERICAN TONNAGE. 


Years. 


Registered 


Enrolled and 


Total. 




Tonnage. 


Licensed. 




"§« 


1825 . . . 


$700,787 


$722,323 


$1,423,111 


.2 


1826 . 




737,978 


796,212 


i,534,i90 


«tJ 


1827 . 




747,170 


873,437 


1,620,607 


t— i <u 


1828 . 




812,619 


928,772 


1,741,391 


m£ 


1829 . 




650,142 


610,654 


' 1,260,977 


-hfn 


1830 . 




576,475 


615,301 


1,191,776 


3 u- 


1831 . 




620,451 


647,394 


1,267,846 


Q b 


-1832 . 




686,989 


752,459 


1,439,450 


1 


1833 • 




750,026 


856,122 


1,606,149 




1834 • 




857,438 


901,468 


1,758,906 


'V • 


1835 . 




885,821 


939,118 


1,824,939 


-C 3 


1836 . 




897,774 


984,328 


1,892,202 


1837 . 




810,447 


1,086,238 


1,896,685 




1838 . 




822,591 


1,173,047 


1,995,638 


1839 . 




834,244 


1,262,234 


2,096,478 




.1840 . 




899,764 


1,280,999 


2,180,763 


(From Works, IV, pp. 136, 137.) 




TABLE C— MANUFACTURES. 




Years. 


Amount in 


Years. 


Amount in 




Each Year. 




Each Year. 




[1825 . . . 


$5,729,797 




"1833. • • • 


$6,557,080 


a 


1826 . 






5,495,130 


■a . 


1834. 






6,247,893 





1827 . 






5,536,651 


1835. 






7,694,073 


<-> j 


1828 . 






5,548,354 


V 
3 7! - 


1836. 






6,107,528 


-4-> 


1829 . 






5,412,320 


■a 3 


1837. 






7,136,997 


O 

u 


1830 . 






5,320,980 


£u 


1838. 






8,397,078 


IU 


1831 • 






5,086,890 




1839. 






10,927,529 


1 1832 . 






5,050,633 


L1840. 






12,848,840 




$43,180,755 




$65,917,018 




(] 


"rom 

6 


W 


arks 


, IV, pp. 136, 1 


37-) 













82 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

"The aggregate amount of the value of the exports, in the 
first series of years, from 1824 to 1833, the period when the 
protective policy was in its greatest vigor, was $469,198,564, 
making an average of $57,399,945 per annum, throughout the 
period; while the aggregate amount of value in the last, the 
period of reduction under the compromise, was $768,352,365, 
giving an average of $96,442,795, and making an aggregate gain, 
in the period of reduction, over that of protection, of $299,- 
174,791, and an average annual gain of $38,646,855, being rather 
more than 65 per cent, on the average of the former period, an 
increase without example in any former period of the history 
of our commerce. This vast increase has had a corresponding 
effect on our tonnage in the foreign and coasting trade, as will 
appear by reference to Table B, which contains a statement of 
our tonnage for the two periods. The aggregate amount of the 
foreign tonnage at the close of the first period was, in the 
foreign, 686,989, and the coasting trade 752,456 tons, making 
the aggregate 1,439,450 tons, against the last, in the foreign 
trade, of 896,664, and the coasting, 1,280,999; making, in the 
aggregate, 2,180,763, and an increase, during the period of re- 
duction of duties, over that of protection, of 741,303 tons; while, 
during the first, there was an actual falling off in the tonnage, 
as the table will show. 

"But it will no doubt be objected that this mighty impulse 
from reduction, which has so vastly increased our exports and 
tonnage, was confined to the great agricultural staples; and that 
the effects will be found to be the reverse on the manufacturing 
industry of the country. The very opposite is the fact. So far 
from falling off, it is the very branch of our exports that has 
received the greatest impulse, as will be apparent by reference 
to Table C, in which the exports, in value, of domestic manu- 
factures are arranged in tabular form, divided into the same 
periods. It will appear, by reference to it, that the whole value 
of the exports of domestic manufactures, during the period of 
high protective duties, was but $43,180,755. So far from in- 
creasing, there was an actual falling off, comparing the last with 
the first year of the series, of $505,633. Now turn to the period 
of reduction of duties, and mark the contrast. Instead of falling 
off, the exports increased to $65,917,018 during the period; and, 
comparing the last year of the series with the last of that of 
high protective duties, the increase will be found to be $7,798,207, 
greater than the former year by nearly three millions of dollars. 
This vast increase of the exports of domestic manufactures, even 
beyond the other branches of exports, is attributable mainly to 
the fact that a large portion of the articles for which they were 
exchanged were made duty free during the period under the 
compromise, while the greater part of those for which the great 
agricultural staples were exchanged were still subject to high 
duties." (Works, IV, p. 112.) 

[The figures of the text, as well as the tables, show various 
errors,' which, however, do not materially affect the results. The 
errors are here repeated, for want of means of verification or 
correction.] 



CHAPTER VI. 
Finance. 

William Pinkney, the distinguished Mary- 
land statesman, once said of Calhoun, k The 
strong power of genius, from a higher region 
than that of argument, had thrown on the sub- 
ject all the light with which it is the preroga- 
tive of genius to invest and illustrate every- 
thing. * * *" 50 

The remark nowhere finds better illustration 
than in Calhoun's treatment of finance. Here, 
perhaps more than in any other instance, was 
his extraordinary analytic faculty most se- 
verely put to the test, and his pervasive subtlety 
of intellect most completely exhibited. Affairs 
of currency and finance ordinarily fill the aver- 
age mind with apprehension, if not with down- 
right pain. Those who undertake to explain 
stand usually themselves badly in need of ex- 
planation. Hence their painful utterances. 
But in the present instance the reader is con- 
stantly assisted, enlightened, carried forward ; 
and what ordinarily is as dry as dust is ren- 
dered welcome and full of interest. Air. Cal- 
houn had dug hard and long at this knotty 
subject. In 1816, he was chairman of the 

50 Life, Harpers, p. 24. 



84 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

Committee on National Currency, and in that 
position, of course, his close attention had been 
directed to matters of this nature. The results 
we have from him, therefore, in 1837 and 
1838 are fruits of twenty years of reflection 
and experience-. One of the first outlines of his 
financial views is to be found in his speech of 
January 13, 1834, on "The Removal of the 
Deposits" ; but their full development appears 
in 1837 and 1838, the time of the great crash. 
Feeling it to be a crucial hour in the affairs of 
the country, he evidently put forth his full 
powers, whose lasting benefits posterity has 
hardly begun to realize. As in other instances, 
his exposition is such that the substance of it 
may be given in a few words, but fully to un- 
fold the content would require volumes. 

The foundation in Mr. Calhoun's philosophy 
of finance is the distinction between two 
kinds of money. To define money logically is 
to stumble on this distinction. All are agreed 
that there is such a thing as money. Not a 
few, however, would find it difficult to define. 
One drawing money today over the bank 
counter may receive gold, or silver, paper 
marked "gold certificate 1 ' or "silver certificate, " 
notes of the government "promising to pay" 
so many dollars (what kind not stated), notes 
of "national banks" likewise "promising to 
pay," and in addition bearing various legends 
as intelligible to the average citizen as the 
hieroglyphs of Egypt. A bank draft or even 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 85 

the private check of a responsible person in the 
pocket likewise gives the pleasurable sensation 
of "money." All these varieties would prob- 
ably be allowed to rank in the category of that 
celestial substance. But what are the proper- 
ties common to all which denominate them 
"money," currency, cash? The indefeasible 
title which any such instrument carries to a 
stated portion of this world's goods would 
seem to be the defining attribute. But a ware- 
house receipt or a real estate deed surely is not 
"money." The difference, however, is merely 
one of degree. These are instruments of title 
to certain specific pieces of property. Money 
is an instrument of title to a certain amount 
of any and all property, which, consequently, 
all recognize and receive. If this definition be 
correct, then money need not necessarily con- 
sist of coin at all, a proposition apparently in- 
disputable when the currency of war time is 
remembered. When (as in the Confederacy 
and elsewhere) specie wholly disappears, is 
there no "money" in the country? 

Here, then, is the distinction hinted at. 
Money is a title, an abstraction, a right to prop- 
erty. Coin is money only because it vests such 
a title. Its peculiarity is that it is in itself prop- 
erty. The coin is not in the least necessary. 
To convey real estate it is sufficient to deliver 
a deed. It is nowise necessary to put the house 
itself into the pocket of the buyer. Similarly, 
to pay money, it is sufficient to pass the title; 






86 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

it is not necessary to deliver the property itself. 
Coin is property and title combined. Other 
money is bare title. 

From the failure to note this distinction pro- 
ceeds infinite confusion, which in turn breeds 
untold evil. Its insidious influence may under- 
mine the very foundations of society. It is 
often contended that paper money passes cur- 
rent because redeemable in gold. The conten- 
tion is in point-blank contradiction of the fact. 
The very raison d'etre of banks is that they 
issue notes (or discounts) in excess of coin 
deposited in their vaults. Their notes, or 
checks drawn on them, pass current because 
they convey title to property, not title to coin. 
If they conveyed title only to coin, every bank 
in the county, and the government treasury as 
well, would instantly collapse. How is it in 
war time above referred to? The bald repug- 
nance of the claim that paper passes current 
because redeemable is in that case made most 
conspicuous. 

The idea that paper money is or ought to be 
redeemable in coin gives a rotten foundation to 
finance, a false trend to the policy of govern- 
ments ; it gives rise to excessive issues of bank- 
paper, inflation and overtrading, a plethora of 
money when it is not legitimately needed, sud- 
den panic and contraction at the crucial hour. 
It causes currency to depend on conditions to 
which it should m reality bear no sort of re- 
lation. The real foundation on which paper 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 87 

currency rests is the fact that every one re- 
ceives it as such. This in turn depends on the 
credit of the government. Thus, crafty bank- 
ers, in reality supported by the credit of the 
government, disguise the truth by pretending 
that their paper is based on gold. The result 
of all this is to place the regulation of the value 
of the currency in the hands of the financiers — 
a power which quickly reduces the rest of the 
community to the condition of dependents and 
hirelings. 

Bank-paper starts out, as Randolph with 
withering sarcasm remarked, "Promise to 
pay." It is a lie on its face. According to 
this pernicious error it is supposed to be pay- 
able in coin. The bank and all who have given 
the least reflection to the subject know per- 
fectly well that they neither can, nor ever in- 
tend to, "pay" in coin. It is the grossest kind 
of imposition on the general confidence. Mr. 
Calhoun illustrates the matter thus : A man of 
such financial standing that his friend endorses 
for him for nothing, makes his note ; the friend 
endorses it. He goes to the bank and ex- 
changes the note so endorsed for these "prom- 
ises to pay" of the bank. The joint credit of 
the two is exchanged (ostensibly) for the 
credit of the bank, and the bank charges 6 or 
7 per cent, for the exchange. Why is the 
bank's credit worth this premium? Because re- 
deemable in gold? Not a bit of it. Because it 



88 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

is endorsed by the government, made receivable 
for dues and taxes. 

To this error, then, is attributable the league 
of the banks with the government, an arrange- 
ment under which the government receives 
bank notes in payment of taxes, and pays them 
away in settlement of government debts. The 
act, says Mr. Calhoun, is wholly unconstitu- 
tional, but, he maintains, Congress has the 
power of regulating the value of the currency, 
and, therefore, "If you have a right to receive 
bank-notes at all — to treat them as money by 
receiving them in your dues, or paying them 
away to creditors — you have a right to create 
a bank." 51 Infinitely better than a league of 
banks with the government (and far more in 
accord with the Constitution) is a national 
bank. In 1834, he advocated such a bank to 
"unbank the banks," 52 to let them down softly, 
retire their circulation by degrees and resume 
specie payment. 

In this matter of finance we- find Mr. Cal- 
houn's constructive suggestion no less well- 
considered and valuable than his destructive 
criticism. The following extracts are arranged 
with a view to develop first the trend of his 
criticism, and then the nature of his suggestion. 
The direction of the criticism may be outlined 
thus: 1. Failure to distinguish properly the 
two kinds of currency, and to conceive clearly 

51 Works, II, p. 336. 
ra Works, II, p. 363- 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 89 

the true foundation of the credit portion, leads 
to the treatment of bank-paper as currency. 
2. This brings about a league of government 
and banks. 3. This enlists the financial power 
on the side of the tax-consuming portion of 
the community, and so promotes increase of 
taxes and disbursements ; tariffs, patronage, 
and spoils. 4. It places the regulation of the 
value of the currency in the hands of the 
financiers, a power calculated to reduce the rest 
of the community to the condition of serfs and 
dependents. 5. It chills emulation, damps am- 
bition, and degrades the whole tone of public 
affairs. 6. It, in fact, resolves itself into a 
struggle whether the government or the banks 
shall concentrate all powers, with the probabili- 
ties in favor of the banks. It is the great semi- 
nal principle of all our political evils — deeply 
hidden below the surface, but nevertheless cer- 
tain to work disastrous consequences to an ex- 
tent wholly incalculable. 

"The credit of the country is an important 
portion of the currency of the country — credit 
in every shape, public and private — credit, not 
only in the shape of paper, but that of faith 
and confidence between man and man, through 
the agency of which, in all its forms, the great 
and mighty exchanges of this commercial 
country, at home and abroad, are, in a great 
measure, effected. * * *" 53 

"More than half the errors of life may be 

53 Works, II, p. 331. 



90 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

traced to fallacies originating in an improper 
use of words ; and among them, not the least 
mischievous is the application of this word to 
bank transactions, in a sense wholly different 
from its original meaning (the word deposit). 
Originally it meant a thing placed in trust, or 
pledged to be safely and sacredly kept, till re- 
turned to the depositor, without being used 
by the depositary, while in his possession. All 
this is changed when applied to a deposit in a 
bank. * * *" 54 

"Of all institutions affecting the great ques- 
tion of the distribution of wealth — a question 
least explored and the most important of any 
in the whole range of political economy — the 
banking institution has, if not the greatest, one 
of the greatest, and, I fear, most pernicious, 
influences. * * *" 55 

fk I shall oppose, strenuously, all attempts 
* * * to reunite the political and money 
powers (more dangerous than church and 
state) in any form or shape ; * * *_"56 

'With this law so well established, place the 
money power in the hands of a single individ- 
ual, or a combination of individuals, and they, 
by expanding or contracting the currency, may 
raise or sink prices at pleasure ; and, by pur- 
chasing when at the greatest depression, and 
selling at the greatest elevation, may command 
the whole property and industry of the com- 

54 Works, III, p. 217. 
65 Works, II, p. 333. 
50 Works, III, p. 91. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 91 

munity, and control its fiscal operations. The 
banking system concentrates and places this 
power in the hands of those who control it, 
and its force increases just in proportion as it 
dispenses with a metallic basis. Never was an 
engine invented better calculated to place the 
destiny of the many in the hands of the few, 
or less favorable to that equality and indepen- 
dence which lie at the bottom of our free insti- 
tutions. * * *" 57 

"That the connection between the banks and 
the government, the receiving and paying away 
their notes as cash, and the use of the public 
money from the time of the collection to the 
disbursement, is the source of immense profit 
to the banks, cannot be questioned. It is im- 
possible, as I have said, to ascertain with any 
precision to what extent their issues and cir- 
culation depend upon it, but it certainly con- 
stitutes a large proportion. A single illustra- 
tion may throw light upon this point. Sup- 
pose the government were to take up the veriest 
beggar in the street, and enter into a contract 
with him, that nothing should be received in 
payment of its dues or for the sales of its 
public lands in future, except gold and silver 
and his promissory notes, and that he should 
have the use of the public funds from the time 
of their collection until their disburse- 
ment. Can any one estimate the wealth which 
such a contract would confer? His notes 

"Works, III, p. 115. 



92 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

would circulate far and wide over the whole 
extent of the Union; would be the medium 
through which the exchanges of the country 
would be performed; and his ample and ex- 
tended credit would give him a control over all 
the banking institutions and moneyed trans- 
actions of the community. The possession of 
a hundred millions would not give a control 
more effectual. I ask, would it be fair, would 
it be equal, would it be consistent with the 
spirit of our institutions, to confer such ad- 
vantages on any individual? And if not on 
one, would it be if conferred on any number? 
And if not, why should it be conferred on any 
corporate body of individuals ? How can they 
possibly be entitled to benefits so vast, which 
all must acknowledge could not be justly con- 
ferred on any number of unincorporated indi- 
viduals? * * *" 58 

"We thus glided imperceptibly into a con- 
nection" (banks and government) "which was 
never recognized by law till 1816 (if my mem- 
ory serves), but which has produced more im- 
portant after-consequences and has had a 
greater control over the destiny of this country 
than any one of the mighty questions which 
have so often and deeply agitated the country. 
To it may be traced, as their seminal principle, 
the vast and extraordinary expansion of our 
banking system, our excessive import duties, 
unconstitutional and profuse disbursements, 

58 Works, III, p. 75- 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 93 

the protective tariff, and its associated system 
for spending what it threw into the treasury, 
followed in time by a vast surplus which the 
utmost extravagance of the government could 
not dissipate. * * *" 59 

"Take taxation and disbursement together, 
and it will always be found that one portion 
of the community pays into the treasury, in 
the shape of taxes, more than it receives back 
in that of disbursements, and that another re- 
ceives back more than it pays. The former are 
the taxpayers, and the latter the consumers, 
making the great, essential, and controlling 
division in all civilized communities. If, with 
us, the government has been thrown on the 
side of the consumers,- as it has, it must be 
attributed to its alliance with the banks, whose 
influence has been, in consequence, at all times 
steadily and powerfully on that side. It is to 
this mischievous and unholy alliance that may- 
be traced almost all the disasters that have 
befallen us, and the great political degeneracy 
of the country. * * *" 60 

"It is the remark of a profound statesman* 
that the revenue is the State; and, of course, 
those who control the revenue control the 
State; and those who can control the money 
power can the revenue, and through it the 
State, with the property and industry of the 
country, in all its ramifications. Let us pause 

59 Works, III, p. 211. 

60 Works, III, p. 233. 
*Edmund Burke. 



94 THE LIFE CF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

for a moment and reflect on the nature and 
extent of this tremendous power. * * *" 61 

"But its most fatal effects originate in its 
bearing on the moral and intellectual develop- 
ment of the community. The great principle 
of demand and supply governs the moral and 
intellectual world no less than the business and 
commercial. If a community be so constituted 
as to cause a demand for high mental attain- 
ments, or if its honors and rewards are al- 
lotted to pursuits that require their develop- 
ment, by creating a demand for intelligence, 
wisdom, knowledge, justice, firmness, courage, 
patriotism, and the like, they are sure to be 
produced. But if, on the contrary, they be 
allotted to pursuits that require inferior quali- 
ties, the higher are sure to decay and perish. 
I object to the banking system because it allots 
the honors and rewards of the community, in 
a very undue proportion, to a pursuit the least 
of all favorable to the development of the 
higher mental qualities, intellectual or moral, 
to the decay of the learned professions, and the 
more noble pursuits of science, literature, phil- 
osophy, and statesmanship, and the great and 
more useful pursuits of business and industry. 
With the vast increase of its profits and in- 
fluence, it is gradually concentrating in itself 
most of the prizes of life — wealth, honor, and 
influence — to the great disparagement and deg- 
radation of all the liberal, and useful, and gen- 



c.i 



Works, III, p. 114. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 95 

erous pursuits of society. The rising genera- 
tion cannot but feel its deadening influence. 
The youths who crowd our colleges, and be- 
hold the road to honor and distinction termina- 
ting in a banking-house, will feel the spirit of 
emulation decay within them, and will no 
longer be pressed forward by generous ardor, 
to mount up the rugged steep of science as the 
road to honor and distinction, when, perhaps, 
the highest point they could attain — in what 
was once the most honorable and influential 
of all the learned professions — would be the 
place of attorney to a bank." 02 

"If this body, instead of being a Senate of 
the United States, was a deputation from Wall 
street, sent here to arrange the details of the 
measure, we would not be at any loss to un- 
derstand why they are arranged as they are." 

"No wonder, then, that Wall street should 
shout and clap its hands for joy, on its passage 
through the other House." * * * tk He is blind 
indeed who does not see in the signs of the 
times a strong tendency to plunge the Union 
as deeply in debt as are many of the States, 
and to subjugate the whole to the paper sys- 
tem. Every movement and measure indicates 
it. What are we doing, and what engrosses 
all our attention from mom to noon, and from 
week to week, ever since our arrival here, at 
the commencement of this extraordinary ses- 

82 Works, III, p. 1 1 6. 
63 Works, IV, p. 7- 



96 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

sion, and will continue till its end? What but 
banks, loans, stocks, tariffs, distribution, and 
Supplies? All else is forgotten and absorbed 
in these; and what are these but parts and 
parcels of the paper system?" 64 

Wall street, as well as history, seems to re- 
peat itself ! 

Mr. Calhoun's constitutional currency may 
be explained in a few extracts. 

''It is, then, my impression that, in the pres- 
ent condition of the world, a paper currency 
in some form, if not necessary, is almost indis- 
pensable in financial and commercial opera- 
tions of civilized and extensive communities. 
In many respects it has a vast superiority over 
a metallic currency, especially in great and ex- 
tended transactions, by its greater cheapness, 
lightness, and the facility of determining the 
amount. The great desideratum is to ascer- 
tain what description of paper has the requisite 
qualities of being free from fluctuation in value 
and liability to abuse, in the greatest perfec- 
tion. I have shown, I trust, that the bank- 
notes do not possess these requisites in a de- 
gree sufficiently high for this purpose. I go 
further. It appears to me, after bestowing the 
best reflection I can give the subject, that no 
convertible paper, that is no paper whose credit 
rests upon a promise to pay, is suitable for cur- 
rency. It is the form of credit proper in pri- 
vate transactions between man and man, but 

64 Works, IV, p. 10. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 97 

not for a standard of value, to perform ex- 
changes generally, which constitute the appro- 
priate functions of money or currency. 

$ %. * " G5 

"On what, then, ought a paper currency to 
rest? I would say, on demand and supply 
simply, which regulates the value of every- 
thing else — the constant demand which the 
government has on the community for its 
necessary supplies. A medium, resting on this 
demand, which simply obligates the govern- 
ment to receive it in all of its dues, to the 
exclusion of everything else except gold and 
silver, and which shall be optional with those 
who have demands on the government to re- 
ceive or not, would, it seems to me, be as stable 
in its value as those metals themselves, and be 
as little liable to abuse as the power of coining. 
It would contain within itself a self-regulating 
power. It could only be issued to those who 
had claims on the government, and to those 
only with their consent, and, of course, only 
at or above par with gold and silver, which 
would be its habitual state; for, so far as the 
government was concerned, it would be equal 
in every respect to gold and silver, and su- 
perior in many, particularly in regulating the 
distant exchanges of the country. Should, 
however, a demand for gold and silver from 
abroad, or other accidental causes, depress it 
temporarily, as compared with the precious 

65 Works, III, p. 83. 

7 



98 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

metals, it would then return to the treasury, 
and as it could not be paid out during such 
depression, its gradual diminution in the mar- 
ket would soon restore it to an equality, when 
it would again flow out into the general circula- 
tion. Thus there would be a constant alternate 
flux and reflux into and from the treasury, be- 
tween it and the precious metals ; but if at any 
time a permanent depression in its value be 
possible from any cause, the only effect would 
be to operate as a reduction of taxes on the 
community, and the only sufferer would be 
the government itself. Against this, its own 
interest would be a sufficient guaranty. 

"Nothing but experience can determine 
what amount and of what denominations 
might be safely issued; but it may be safely 
assumed that the country would absorb an 
amount greatly exceeding its annual income. 
Much of its exchanges, which amount to a 
vast sum, as well as its banking business, 
would revolve about it, and many millions 
would thus be kept in circulation beyond the 
demands of the government. It may throw 
some light on this subject to state that North 
Carolina, just after the Revolution, issued a 
large amount of paper, which was made re- 
ceivable in dues to her. It was also made a 
legal tender, but which, of course, was not ob- 
ligatory after the adoption of the Federal Con- 
stitution. A large amount, say between four 
and five hundred thousand dollars, remained 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 99 

in circulation after that period, and continued 
to circulate for more than twenty years at par 
with gold and silver during- the whole time, 
with no other advantage than being received in 
the revenue of the State, which was much less 
than $100,000 per annum. I speak on the in- 
formation of citizens of that State, on whom 
I can rely." 66 

This defense of the suggestion is interest- 
ing : 

"When the Senator from Massachusetts 
( Webster) made his attack on my suggestions, 
I was disappointed. I expected argument, and 
he gave us denunciation. It is often easy to 
denounce, when it is hard to refute ; and when 
that Senator gives us denunciation instead of 
argument, I conclude that it is because the one 
is at his command, and the other not. 

"We are told the form I suggested is but a 
repetition of the old continental money — a 
ghost that is ever conjured up by all who wish 
to give the banks an exclusive monopoly of 
government credit. The assertion is not true : 
there is not the least analogy between them. 
The one was a promise to pay when there was 
no revenue, and the other a promise to receive 
in the dues of government when there is an 
abundant revenue. 

"We are also told that there is no instance of 
a government paper that did not depreciate. In 

88 Works, III, p. 85. 



100 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

reply, I affirm that there is none, assuming the 
form I propose, that ever did depreciate. 
Whenever a paper, receivable in the dues of 
government, had anything like a fair trial, it 
has succeeded. Instance the case of North 
Carolina, referred to in my opening remarks. 
The drafts of the treasury at this moment, 
with all their encumbrance, are nearly at par 
with gold and silver : and I might add the in- 
stance alluded to by the distinguished Senator 
from Kentucky, in which he admits that, as 
soon as the excess of the issues of the Com- 
monwealth Bank of Kentucky were reduced to 
the proper point, its notes rose to par. The 
case of Russia might also be mentioned. In 
1827 she had a fixed paper circulation in the 
form of bank-notes, but which were incon- 
vertible, of upward of $120,000,000, esti- 
mated in the metallic ruble, and which had for 
years remained without fluctuation, having 
nothing to sustain it but that it was received in 
the dues of the government, and that, too, 
with a revenue of only about $90,000,000 an- 
nually. I speak on the authority of a respect- 
able traveler. Other instances, no doubt, 
might be added, but it needs no such support. 
How can a paper depreciate which the govern- 
ment is bound to receive in all its payments, 
and while those to whom payments are to be 
made are under no obligation to receive it? 
From its nature, it can only circulate when at 
par with gold and silver; and if it should de- 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. IOI 

predate, none could be injured but the govern- 
ment." 67 

This subject may be closed with the follow- 
ing significant extract: "It may be asked, why 
have I spoken at all? It is not from the ex- 
pectation of changing a single vote on the op- 
posite side. That is hopeless. * * * They 
have shut their eyes and closed their ears. The 
voice of an angel from heaven could not reach 
their understandings. Why, then, have I 
raised mine? Because my hope is in truth. 

sjs * t- " C8 



67 Works, III, p. 122. 

68 Works, IV, p. 200. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Spoils. 

To one who has reflected but casually on 
the subject it might appear that the collection 
and disbursement of the revenue of the govern- 
ment is not a matter of very great concern. 
Mr. Calhoun's classification of communities 
into taxpayers and tax-consumers at a first 
glance seems to possess no special significance. 
The more one reflects upon it, however, the 
more clearly will its importance appear. It 
requires a somewhat close examination to dis- 
close the inward truth of the matter. Everv 
citizen contributes something to the govern- 
ment ; every citizen receives something back. 
Even if taxes be perfectly equal, it is impos- 
sible that the distribution of them be so. 
Some, therefore, gain by reason of the govern- 
ment. Others lose. Here at the very outset 
is a line drawn by self-interest entirely across 
the body of society. Here is the ultimate basis 
of party. Given this condition, parties follow 
as a matter of course, and their respective poli- 
cies, also, are at once determined. One will 
favor increase of taxes, wider scope of govern- 
mental power ; the other will favor the opposite 
policies. It is, in fact, the ultimate, essential, 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 103 

division in every community. Tariffs and 
banks have been described above as influences 
calculated to distribute wealth unequally. But 
here is an influence that includes them all. It 
is indeed the highest class, in which are prop- 
erly to be included all the institutions of so- 
cietv which contribute to the elevation and en- 
richment of one party at the expense of the 
other. "Spoils," in its narrower sense, is un- 
derstood to include only those bounties and 
appropriations which proceed directly from the 
public treasury. But "spoils," in a wider 
sense, may be understood to include every ad- 
vantage whatsoever which is derived, however 
indirectly, from the action of the government. 
Mr. Calhoun maintains that even in a govern- 
ment under which indirect advantages of this 
sort did not exist, the direct advantages de- 
rived from the control of the revenue, with the 
honors and emoluments afforded by the gov- 
ernment, would be ample to set party strife in 
motion, with all its dread consequences : fac- 
tional hatred, corruption, disorder, and finally 
military despotism. 

"* * * Some one portion of the community 
must pay in taxes more than it receives back 
in disbursements, while another receives in dis- 
bursements more than it pays in taxes. It is, 
then, manifest, taking the whole process to- 
gether, that taxes must be, in effect, bounties 
to that portion of the community which re- 
ceives more in disbursements than it pays in 



104 THE LIFE 0F J° HN C - CALHOUN. 

taxes ; while to the other, which pays in taxes 
more than it receives in disbursements, they 
are taxes in reality — burthens, instead of boun- 
ties. This consequence is unavoidable. It re- 
sults from the nature of the process, be the 
taxes ever so equally laid, and the disburse- 
ments ever so fairly made, in reference to the 
public service. * * *" 69 

"Nor would it be less a bounty to the por- 
tion of the community which received back in 
disbursements more than it paid in taxes be- 
cause received as salaries for official services, 
or payments to persons employed in executing 
the works required by the government, or fur- 
nishing it with its various supplies, or any 
other description of public employment, in- 
stead of being bestowed gratuitously. It is the 
disbursements which give additional, and usu- 
ally, very profitable and honorable employ- 
ments to the portion of the community where 
they are made.- But to create such employ- 
ments by disbursements is to bestow on the 
portion of the community to whose lot the dis- 
bursement may fall a far more durable and 
lasting benefit, one that would add much more 
to its wealth and population, than would the 
bestowal of an equal sum gratuitously; and 
hence, to the extent that the disbursements ex- 
ceed the taxes, it may be fairly regarded as a 
bounty. The very reverse is the case in ref- 
erence to the portion which pays in taxes more 

69 Works, I, p. 19. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 105 

than it receives in disbursements. With them, 
profitable employments are diminished to the 
same extent, and population and wealth cor- 
respondingly decreased. 

"The necessary result, then, of the unequal 
fiscal action of the government is to divide 
the community into two great classes, one con- 
sisting of those who, in reality, pay the taxes, 
and, of course, bear exclusively the burthen of 
supporting the government ; and the other, of 
those who are the recipients of their proceeds, 
through disbursements, and who are, in fact, 
supported by the government ; or, in fewer 
words, to divide it into taxpayers and tax- 
consumers." 70 

"But, as great as is this number" (officials 
and employees) "it gives a very imperfect con- 
ception of the sum total of those who, as fur- 
nishing supplies or otherwise, are connected 
with, and more or less dependent on, the gov- 
ernment, and, of course, liable to be influenced 
by its patronage, the number of whom, with 
their dependents, cannot even be conjectured. 
If to these be added the almost countless host 
of expectants who are seeking to displace those 
in office, or to occupy their places as they be- 
come vacant, all of whom must look to the 
executive for the gratification of their wishes, 
some conception may be formed of the im- 
mense number subject to the influence of the 
executive patronage." 71 

70 Works, I, p. 20. 

71 Works, V, p. 149- 



[06 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

"* * * When offices, instead of being con- 
sidered as public trusts, to be conferred on the 
deserving, were regarded as the spoils of vic- 
tory, to be bestowed as rewards for partisan 
services, without respect to merit; when it 
came to be understood that all who hold office 
hold by the tenure of partisan zeal and party 
service, it is easy to see that the certain, direct, 
and inevitable tendency of such a state of 
things is to convert the entire body of those in 
office into corrupt and supple instruments of 
power, and to raise up a host of hungry, 
greedy, and subservient partisans, ready for 
every service, however base and corrupt. 
Were a premium offered for the best means of 
extending to the utmost the power of patron- 
age ; to destroy the love of country, and to 
substitute a spirit of subserviency and man- 
worship : to encourage vice and discourage 
virtue ; and, in a word, to prepare for the sub- 
version of liberty and the establishment of 
despotism, no scheme more perfect could be 
devised ; and such must be the tendency of the 
practice, with whatever intention adopted, or 
to whatever extent pursued." 72 

'The same amount of patronage and in- 
fluence, in proportion to the extent and popu- 
lation of a country, which, in a small State, 
moderately populous, would be perfectly safe, 
might prove fatal in an extensive and populous 
community, just as a much smaller military 

12 Works, V, p. 152. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 107 

force, in proportion, would hold under sub- 
jection the latter than the former. The 
principle is the same in both cases — the great 
advantage which an organized body, such as a 
government or an army, has over an unor- 
ganized mass, an advantage increasing with 
the increased difficulty of concert and coopera- 
tion, and this, again, increasing with the num- 
ber and dispersion of those on whose concert 
and cooperation resistance depends ; and hence, 
from their combined action, both as applied to 
the civil and military, the great advantage 
which power has over liberty in large and 
populous countries, an advantage so great that 
it is utterly impossible in such countries to de- 
fend the latter against the former, unless aided 
by a highly artificial political organization such 
as ours, based on local and geographical inter- 
ests. If to this difficulty, resulting from num- 
bers and extent only, there be added others of 
a most formidable character — the greater ca- 
pacity, in proportion, on the part of the govern- 
ment, in large communities, to seize on and 
corrupt all the organs of public opinion, and 
thus to delude and impose on the people; the 
greater tendency in such communities to the 
formation of parties on local and separate in- 
terests, resting on opposing and conflicting 
principles, with separate and rival leaders at 
the head of each, and the great difficulty of 
combining such parties in any system of re- 



108 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

sistance against the common danger from the 
government — some conception may be formed 
of the vast superiority which that organized 
and central party, consisting of office-holders 
and office-seekers, with their dependents, form- 
ing one compact, disciplined corps, wielded 
by a single individual, without conflict of opin- 
ion within, either as to policy or principle, and 
aiming at the single object of retaining and 
perpetuating power in their own ranks, must 
have, in such a country as ours, over the 
people, a superiority so decisive that it may be 
safely asserted that, whenever the patronage 
and influence of the government are sufficiently 
strong to form such a party, liberty, without a 
speedy reform, must inevitably be lost." 73 

'The disease is daily becoming more aggra- 
vated and dangerous, and if it be permitted to 
advance for a few years longer with the 
rapidity with which it has of late, it will soon 
pass beyond the reach of remedy. This is no 
party question. Every lover of this country, 
and of its institutions, be his party what it 
may, must see and deplore the rapid growth 
of patronage, with all its attendant evils, and 
the certain catastrophe which awaits its further 
progress, if not timely arrested. The question 
now is not how, or where, or with whom the 
danger originated, but how it is to be arrested ; 
not the cause, but the remedy; not how our 

7,! Works, V, p. 159. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 10Q 

institutions and liberty have been endangered, 
but how they are to be rescued. * * * ,: 

Upon looking back over the field that has 
now been covered, it will be perceived that Mr. 
Calhoun's analysis of each of these three great 
influences ("spoils," banks, tariff) discovers 
similar elements, and emphasizes the same ten- 
dency. In each case the first requisite is to 
secure the power of the government; to the 
politician it is requisite as the means of ob- 
taining offices, salaries, appropriations, "jobs" ; 
to the financier it is requisite as a means of 
obtaining the use and control of the govern- 
ment credit ; to the manufacturer it is requisite 
as the means of obtaining higher prices for his 
products. The object in each case is substan- 
tially the same — under form of law to take 
from others and appropriate to themselves 
more than would otherwise be so taken and ap- 
propriated. This oneness of purpose and com- 
munity of interest naturally brings about a 
coalition of the three classes. Whatever quar- 
rels or misunderstandings may occur in the 
interim are happily compounded when it comes 
to what all recognize to be the great central 
prize, the Presidential election. The follow- 
ing passage gives a description, sixty years 
old, of the nature and workings of this 
coalition : "But it would be doing injustice to 
charge the evils which have followed from the 
system, and the greater which still threaten, 



74 Works, V, p. 189. 



HO THE LIFE CF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

exclusively on the manufacturing interest. Al- 
though it ostensibly originates with it, yet in 
fact it is the least efficient, and the most di- 
vided, of all that combination of interests from 
which the system draws its support. Among 
them, the first and most powerful is that active, 
vigilant, and well-trained corps which lives on 
the government, or expects to live on it, which 
prospers most when the revenue is the greatest, 
the treasury the fullest, and the expenditures 
the most profuse; and, of course, is ever the 
firm and faithful supporter of whatever system 
shall extract most from the pockets of the rest 
of the community, to be emptied into theirs. 
The next in order — when the government is 
connected with the banks, when it receives 
their notes in its dues, and pays them away as 
cash, and uses them as its depositories and 
fiscal agents — are the banking and other asso- 
ciated interests, stock-jobbers, brokers, and 
speculators; and which, like the other, profit 
the more in consequence of the connection — the 
higher the revenue, the greater its surplus and 
the expenditures of the government. It is less 
numerous, but still more active and powerful, 
in proportion, than the other. These form the 
basis; and on these, political aspirants who 
hope to rise to power and control through it, 
rear their party organization. It is they who 
infuse into it the vital principle, and give life 
and energy and direction to the whole. This 
formidable combination, thus vivified and di- 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN.. 



Ill 



rected, rose to power in the late great political 
struggle, and is now in the ascendant ; and it 
is to its death-like efforts to maintain and con- 
solidate its power that this and the late session 
owe their extraordinary proceedings." 75 



"'Works, iV, p. 199. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
Texas and Oregon — I. 

In 1843, Mr. Calhoun withdrew from the 
Senate. The following passage from a letter 
may be quoted to show what were his plans 
for the future at that time : "When I resigned 
my seat in the Senate, I intended to close my 
public life, unless the voice of the people should 
freely call me to take charge of the adminis- 
tration of the government, or the occurrence of 
some great calamity should clearly demand my 
return to it, as a duty, neither of which had I 
any reason to anticipate. Acting in conformity 
with this fixed intention, I have appropriated 
the rest of my days to my entire satisfaction, 
and among other things, to a task which I am 
very desirous of executing, and to do which 
would engross all the spare time on which, at 
my period of life, I have a right to calculate. 
No consideration of a personal character could 
possibly induce me to break my arrangement 
and return to public life. As far as I am con- 
cerned, mine is closed, to my entire satisfaction. 
I have done my duty to the country. I have 
devoted the prime of my life to its service, and 
to the best of my abilities endeavored to pro- 
mote its interest. I have done so because it 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 113 

was my duty, without looking to any reward 
beyond; and aside from duty, neither govern- 
ment nor people can bestow any reward on me 
which could induce me to return to public 
life." 70 

This time (1843) may well be taken as one 
of the great lines of division in his career. One 
might say it is the end of the second era of 
his public life. The first extended from 181 1 
to 1833, when, as Congressman, Secretary of 
War, and Vice-President, he was constantly 
before the public, as a buoyant, progressive, 
young statesman. He had become conspicuous 
by many brilliant services, was rich in honors, 
second -only to one in popularity. In 1833, a 
deeper note is sounded. He then appears in the 
character in which it was his to render to his 
country (and to mankind) services far more 
signal, and of far more lasting benefit, and 
yet at the time almost wholly unappreciated — 
unappreciated by all save what he once styled 
his own "virtuous and noble State." The years 
1833-43 comprise this second era. Almost 
constantly on the side of the minority, he is 
found struggling, always struggling — now 
against Jackson, now against Webster, now 
against Clay ; struggling to discover truth and 
to proclaim it. During this period were worked 
out his principal contributions to the world's 
stock of political and economic truth, some 
slight account of which has been attempted in 

76 Correspondence, p. 574. Letter dated March 9, 1844. 

8 



114 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

the preceding chapters. Mr. Calhoun was 
now (1843) P ast si XL ) r - He had been in the 
thick of every fight for thirty-two years. It 
would seem that he was now well entitled to 
"crown a youth of labor with an age of ease." 
For his own sake one is almost disposed to 
regret that his remaining years were not to be 
spent as outlined in this letter. To retire at 
this ripe age, weary with service, and full of 
honors, to the peace and repose of his own 
home, and there to enjoy the society of his 
devoted family and no less devoted friends, to 
direct his farm (his interest in agriculture was 
always keen), and to bestow his leisure hours 
on the composition of the work indicated — this 
to him would have been ideal. But it was not 
thus written in the book of fate. Indeed, only 
one of the expectations mentioned was destined 
to be realized. It is evident that the "task 
which I am very desirous of executing" refers 
to a project which later resulted in the "Dis- 
quisition on Government.'' The nature of this 
work, the time of its conception and execution, 
its intention and scope, will be more fully 
treated hereafter. It is a matter worthy of 
the most careful attention in considering Mr. 
Calhoun's career and the place he is destined to 
occupy in hisiory. 

The third and last period of his public life 
extends from 1843 to tae tmie °* ^ ls death in 
1850. The events of those years, and his re- 
lations to them, are fitting topics for a great 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 1 1 5 

epic. He and all his contemporaries were 
caught up, as it were, in a great resistless on- 
flowing current, already beginning to roar and 
foam in treacherous rapids, and giving certain 
promise of some Niagara, which was not to be 
reached, however, until i860. 

During the year 1842-43 the political pot 
was hotlv boiling", as in main- another year, 
and slowly the question worked itself out 
whether "the voice of the people should freely 
call" Mr. Calhoun to the Presidency. To R. 
M. T. Hunter he writes, December 22, 1843* 
"I write now to say that I have prepared an 
address to my political friends and supporters, 
and have sent one copy to our central com- 
mittee in Charleston, and the other to our two 
Senators, with a letter addressed to my friends 
and supporters in Congress. The address con- 
tains my reasons for declining to permit my 
name to go before the Baltimore convention. 
I object to the mode in which it is constituted, 
and the tariff principles of an influential por- 
tion of those who will be represented in the 
convention (principally New York and Penn- 
sylvania). I have reasoned both grounds 
pretty fully, and taken high grounds for my 
course. I have taken the step on my own in- 
dividual responsibility, leaving my friends free 
to say whether they will support the stand I 
have taken or not. My course is irrevocably 
taken." 77 

77 Correspondence, p. 555. 



Il6 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

To his brother-in-law, James E. Calhoun, 
for whom, of the correspondents of his own 
family, he seems to have entertained the high- 
est regard and affection, he writes, February 7, 
1844: "My Dear Sir: I have written to the 
editor of The Mercury to correct the statement 
that my name was withdrawn by myself. I 
could not do it consistently with the position 
I occupied, which was a passive one (neither 
to decline or seek the office) ; nor with my ad- 
dress, which simply withheld my name from 
the Baltimore convention, leaving my friends 
and supporters to decide what course ought to 
be taken, under circumstances, in reference to 
both themselves and myself. Indeed, my prin- 
cipal object in transmitting it to the central 
committee of the State was to give them, as 
the representative of my friends and supporters 
in the State, an opportunity to decide in ad- 
vance what that course ought to be. I had 
concluded to make up my mind to abide by its 
decision, be it to support me or not, and be 
their motive what it might, for it would be in 
vain for my name to be continued before the 
people unless heartily supported by my friends 
in the State. In its decision I must be content ; 
but it must be their decision, and so announced; 
and I have accordingly requested The Mercury 
to state the fact, if the withdrawal was made 
on its authority. To that extent it is my duty 
to go, but I can go no farther/' 78 

78 Correspondence, p. 566. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. IIJ 

It is interesting to compare the words above, 
"neither to decline or seek the office," with the 
historic declaration of Lowndes that "The 
Presidency is an office neither to he declined 
nor solicited." 

Such was the termination of .Mr. Calhoun's 
candidacy. February 10, 1844, he writes to 
an old friend: "I am now disentangled from 
the fraudulent game of President making, and 
hope never to have to do anything with it 
again. It is abhorrent to my feelings and 
taste. The truth is that both of the great 
parties have degenerated from their original 
standard so far that they have ceased to repre- 
sent their original principles. The \Yhigs are 
the old Federal party turned demagogue, a 
thing most abhorrent to their original char- 
acter; the Democrats are the old Republican 
party turned spoilsmen, a thing equally abhor- 
rent to their original character." 79 

Scarcely a month had elapsed from the date 
of this letter when Air. Calhoun was again 
plunged into the thick of the fight. President 
Tyler writes him March 6, 1844: "My Dear 
Sir: After a free and frank conversation with 
our friends. Governor McDuffie and Mr. 
Holmes, of South Carolina, and in full view 
of the important negotiation now pending be- 
tween us and foreign governments, I have un- 
hesitatingly nominated you this day as Secre- 
tary of State, in place of my much lamented 

79 Correspondence, p. 568. Letter to Duff Green. 



Il8 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

friend. Judge Upshur. I have been prompted 
to this course by reference to your great talents 
and deservedly high standing with the country 
at large. We have reached a great crisis in 
the condition of public affairs which, I trust, 
will assume the place of a commanding epoch 
in our country's history. The annexation of 
Texas to the Union, and the settlement of the 
Oregon question on a satisfactory basis, are 
the great ends to be accomplished. The first 
is in the act of competition" (completion?) 
"and will admit of no delay; the last had but 
barely opened when death snatched from me 
my lamented friend. Do I expect too much of 
you when I, along with others, anticipate at 
your hands a ready acquiescence in meeting 
my wishes, by coming to the aid of the country 
at this important period ? 

"While your name was before the country 
as a prominent candidate for the Presidency 
I could not have urged this request without 
committing alike an offense to yourself and 
many others ; but now, since your friends have 
withdrawn your name from that exciting can- 
vass, I feel it every way due to the country to 
seek to avail myself, in the administration of 
public affairs, of your high and exalted talents. 

"I hope the action of the Senate will be as 
prompt as my own, and that you will imme- 
diately be at my side." 80 

Calhoun replied, 16th of the same month: 

M Correspondence, p. 938. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 1 10, 

"My Dear Sir : I received by the mail of yes- 
terday your letter of the 6th inst, written in 
the morning*, and informing" me that you had 
nominated me to fill the vacancy in the State 
Department occasioned by the lamented death 
of Mr. Upshur, and your note of the same date, 
written in the evening, that the Senate had 
unanimously confirmed the nomination. 

"I highly appreciate the honor you have con- 
ferred on me in selecting me to fill the depart- 
ment at a crisis when two such important 
negotiations are pending, and the very flatter- 
ing manner the nomination was confirmed. 

"It is with great reluctance that I return 
again to public life ; but, under the circum- 
stances, I do not feel myself at liberty to decline 
the appointment. But, as nothing short of the 
magnitude of the crisis, occasioned by the pend- 
ing negotiations, could induce me to leave my 
retirement, I accept on the condition that, when 
they are concluded, I" shall be at liberty to 
retire. * * *" 81 

In this connection, the following letter from 
Francis Wharton to Calhoun is full of interest. 
Wharton had for some time been a correspond- 
ent and warm admirer of Calhoun. It is a 
pleasing instance of the friendship and interest 
shown by the great Senator for young men, a 
trait of his character which is frequently men- 
tioned, and which is highly indicative of the 
man : "My Dear Sir : The news of your ap- 

81 Correspondence, p. 577. 



120 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

pointment and confirmation as Secretary of 
State has just reached Philadelphia, and I am 
going to take the liberty of telling you that the 
hope and trust of your friends in this section 
of the country is that you should accept the 
appointment. Independently of the conviction 
that no other than a master mind can adjust 
the Oregon negotiation; that such a labor re- 
quires the whole of that great intellect which 
can only be found in two men of the country, 
of whom you are one; that there is but one 
man that can unite to such an intellect a char- 
acter which precludes the supposition of fear, 
favor, and affection, and that that man is your- 
self — independently, I say, of such reasons, I 
cannot doubt that your appearance once more in 
public life, in a catholic attitude, will awaken 
in the men of the Middle and Northern States 
the feelings of pride and attachment with 
which they looked upon you in 1812 and 181 6. 
The parenthesis of nullification — misunder- 
stood as it is by the great majority at the 
North — will be merged, even in the minds of 
the most prejudiced, into the whole context 
of your history. Believe me, looking at you 
once more as the representative of the Union 
as a whole will open the old fountains of af- 
fection. There was a time when Pennsylvania 
would have voted for you by acclamation— 
that time may come again. I may be sanguine, 
but who would not be sanguine when so great 
a consummation as the restoration of the North 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 121 

to the true republican creed has become, for 
the first time for twenty years, probable? 
The Secretaryship of War made you the sec- 
ond man in the affections of the nation ; the 
Secretaryship of State will make you the 
first: 182 

The average reader today, upon the mention 
of Texas and Oregon, thinks of the immediate 
areas which now appear on the map under 
those names, and is rather at a loss to under- 
stand the great significance attached in all 
histories to "Texas and Oregon." A glance at 
the map ( * ) will at once supply the ex- 
planation. It will be seen that the territory 
acquired by these negotiations and the Mexican 
War embraces practically the whole of the 
territory west of the Mississippi valley, and no 
inconsiderable portion of the valley itself. It 
comprises, in fact, more than one-third of the 
whole area of the country. 

It is perhaps no exaggeration to say, in the 
first place, that the acquisition of the Oregon 
territory without war with England was due 
to Mr. Calhoun ; further, that the annexation 
of Texas was due to him; and, finally, that had 
his counsel and influence prevailed, the vast 
territory acquired from Mexico after the [Mexi- 
can War would have been acquired without the 
war, and at no greater pecuniary cost. 

The two questions, Texas and Oregon, were 
intimately connected. Texas had thrown off 

82 Correspondence, p. 939. 

(*) See map, opposite page 112. 



122 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

the Mexican yoke in 1836, by the struggle 
which culminated in the decisive Texan victory 
of San Jacinto. The Texan people the same 
year, "upon a full poll," declared in favor of 
annexation, with only ninety-three votes 
contra. The United States had early recog- 
nized the independence of Texas, and France 
and England shortly followed suit. The over- 
tures of Texas in behalf of annexation were 
not promptly met in this country, as appears 
from the fact that the matter was still open at 
the period when Mr. Calhoun was called to 
the Secretaryship. In the meantime, England 
began to cast longing glances on Texas. Her 
friendly offices took the shape of urging 
Mexico to recognize the independence of Texas 
upon the condition of the abolition of slavery. 
English interests in Mexico were considerable, 
hence English influence large. Texas was 
very "short" on cash, wherefore she, too, was 
in position to lean readily for aid on anyone 
fortified with a bulky strong-box. Thus, in 
the event of trouble between the United States 
and England about Oregon, Texas would be 
for England a broad back door, readily opened, 
and through which easy entrance would be af- 
forded to the very heart of the Union. Mr. 
Calhoun's idea of the proper policy for this 
country was first to close this back door, and 
to close it quickly, by the annexation of Texas. 
This done, the United States would be on a 
much better footing for the Oregon negotia- 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 123 

tion. The necessity for haste was great, as 
Texas was hard pressed for assistance, financial 
or otherwise, and would surely form foreign 
connections if she could not come to an un- 
derstanding with the United States. The Ore- 
gon matter was of an exactly opposite char- 
acter. There (Mr. Calhoun's idea was), the 
longer the status quo was maintained, the 
stronger would become the position of the 
United States. 

In a speech in 1847, ^ r - Calhoun narrates 
the following events which occurred in 1843: 
"* * * I ascertained, from sources perfectly 
reliable, that at the World's Convention the 
American delegation suggested to the abolition- 
ists of England that then was the time to act, 
and if they wished to aim a fatal blow at 
slavery, it must be in Texas, and, in order to 
do that, England must obtain control there. 
I received information — I will not say official, 
but from a quarter in which there could be no 
mistake — that an interview had taken place 
between Lord Aberdeen and a deputation of 
the World's Convention. I was then at home 
in South Carolina, and immediatelv trans- 
mitted to the Secretary of State that infor- 
mation, accompanied by my opinion that it 
demanded instant attention. I suppose that 
letter and my communication formed one of 
the reasons for the movement then made for 
annexation." 83 

83 Works, IV, p. 333. 



124 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

The "World's Convention" here referred to 
assembled in London in June, 1843, for 
abolition purposes. The American delegates, 
it seems, were active in trying to induce the 
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Lord 
Aberdeen, to intervene in behalf of the 
abolition of slavery in Texas. Lord Aberdeen, 
being a diplomat, "gave them no countenance," 
but ''informed them that by every proper means 
of influence he would encourage the abolition 
of slavery, and that he had recommended the 
Mexican government to interest itself in the 
matter." 

The following extract from a letter written 
by Mr. Calhoun in 1845 wil1 throw some fur- 
ther light on the development of this matter: 
"* * * The course taken by Dr. Smith, Sec- 
retary of State, in opposition to annexation 
surprised me. I had regarded him as a firm 
friend of annexation. I received two letters 
from him in 1843, on e after I had left the 
Senate and retired to my residence here, giving 
me a full account of the intrigues of the 
abolitionists with the British government, in 
reference to Texas, and the countenance which 
they received from Lord Aberdeen. I enclosed 
the one I received here to Mr. Upshur, in a 
long letter addressed to him, and urging on 
him the necessity of adopting some decided 
measure to defeat a scheme which, if it should 
succeed, must prove fatal to the South and the 
Union. The information which the doctor's 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 125 

letter contained, and the views I presented, I 
doubt not had due influence in bringing about 
the negotiation which followed, and which we 
may, I trust, now say with certainty will end 
in annexation." 84 

"Dr. Smith" was Charge d' Affaires for 
Texas at London and Paris at the time spoken 
of. The narrative of this intrigue seems not 
unimportant in connection with annexation. 
Probably very few besides Mr. Calhoun knew 
at the time of his communication to Mr. Up- 
shur the inside details, and that communica- 
tion, though nowise official, doubtless, as 
hinted, gave a fresh impetus to the negotia- 
tions. 

Mr. Calhoun did not arrive in Washington 
until very late in March. The treaty was 
signed by himself, plenipotentiary for the 
United States, and the plenipotentiaries for 
Texas, April 12th. On April 18th he opened 
fire on the British Minister at Washington, Mr. 
Pakenham, discussing the various features of 
the Texas situation, and adroitly throwing on 
England the responsibility of annexation. 
This, of course, was immediately disclaimed, 
but it is interesting to note the skill with which 
Mr. Calhoun at once put his opponent on the 
defensive and turned the points of his position. 

Eighteen hundred and forty-four is divisible 
by four, so there was a presidential election 
pending. The abolitionists were rabid against 

84 Correspondence, p. 659. 



126 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

annexation, and both candidates stood in need 
of abolitionist votes. The treaty, thus, was 
not at once ratified. It was not until a year 
later that Congress passed the act under which 
annexation was consummated. 

Southern statesmen were all agreed at that 
time on the vital connection of Texas with the 
peace and prosperity of the South. At this 
day it is hard to look at the map and under- 
stand how any American, North or South, 
could ever have doubted for a moment the 
value of Texas, not to the South alone, but to 
the whole Union ; and how anyone could ever 
have failed to realize that Texas under foreign 
control would be a vast wedge of heterogene- 
ous material protruding disastrously into the 
vitals of the Union is wholly incomprehensible. 
Moral causes may seldom be ascertained with 
final exactitude. Whether annexation was due 
to Mr. Calhoun alone, or to him principally, 
may remain matter of dispute. But the fact at 
any rate is certain that eight years, when this 
matter was in other hands, Texas remained 
outside ; in his hands, within a year, Texas was 
inside the Union. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Texas and Oregon — II. 

The annexation of Texas left open for ad- 
justment between Mexico and the United 
States the boundary line of Texas and Mexico. 
Mr. Calhoun favored the most liberal terms for 
Mexico in this negotiation. As he saw it, how- 
ever, the first step now was to close the Oregon 
controversy, for as long as that troublesome 
question remained open, the Mexican negotia- 
tion was doubly difficult. Oregon settled, the 
Mexican controversy, almost as a matter of 
course, could be satisfactorily terminated. 
Until he had annexation well under way, he let 
the Oregon matter lie. Mr. Pakenham, on 
July 22, 1845, writes, calling Mr. Calhoun's 
attention to previous correspondence with the 
State Department, supposing "other engage- 
ments," etc. To which Mr. Calhoun one month 
afterwards (in which month he was doubtless 
carefully charging the diplomatic gun) indi- 
cates to Mr. Pakenham that, "having disposed 
of other matters," etc., "he will now be happy," 
etc. 

So romantic is the character of this Oregon 
region that even the State documents, usually 
so dreadful, read almost like a novel. The 



128 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

same rapid and effective advance by Mr. Cal- 
houn on his opponent is here observable as in 
the Texas papers. Mr. Pakenham himself, 
while courteously admitting nothing and deny- 
ing everything, as is the way of diplomats, is 
evidently carried away by the force and fasci- 
nated by the interest of Mr. Calhoun's dis- 
patches. The title to Oregon was very com- 
plicated, as such titles must always be. The 
United States had clivers claims — claims in 
their own right, by exploration and discovery; 
claims under France bv the Louisiana Treatv, 
and finally, claims under Spain, by the Florida 
Treaty, 1818. The territory in dispute ex- 
tended from the north limit of Mexico, 42 °, 
to the south limit of Russia, 54 40'. The 
question had been open since the Florida 
Treaty ( 1818), and ever since that time a con- 
vention of joint occupancy had been in force 
between Great Britain and the United States, 
under the terms of which citizens of either 
nation could settle in the territory, and either 
party could terminate the arrangement by 
giving one year's notice. Repeated efforts had 
been made to arrive at a settlement, but all had 
proved unsuccessful. At this stage the effort 
of the British negotiators was to limit the 
United States on the north by the Columbia 
River. To establish, on the other hand, for the 
United States, a valid claim to the whole of 
the basin of that river was the main effort of 
Air. Calhoun, without, however, prejudicing 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 129 

any other existing rights. His arguments to 
establish that title seem hard to resist. He had 
thus placed the negotiation on a solid basis, 
and was laying his lines for continuance in the 
direction indicated when a new administration 
came to the helm. Mr. Polk, the new Presi- 
dent, did not continue Mr. Calhoun in the Sec- 
retaryship. His "indiscretion" did not "serve 
him well." It was not many months before 
the country was worked up to fever heat on 
the Oregon question. "Fifty-four forty or 
fight" and "All of Oregon or none" became 
the popular cries of the hour. 

It was under these circumstances that oc- 
curred one of the most dramatic events in the 
history of South Carolina. Judge D. E. Huger 
resigned his seat in the Senate in order to make 
room for Mr. Calhoun, to whom not only the 
State but apparently the whole country had 
turned instinctively at this crisis as the only 
man able to avert the impending peril. The 
veteran statesman had retired to his home in 
March. It was not long before he was routed 
out, as will appear from the following letter to 
his son-in-law, T. G. Clemson, December 13, 
1845 : "* * * You will have seen that I have 
again been elected to the Senate, much against 
my inclination, but under such circumstances 
that I could not with propriety decline ac- 
cepting. * * * 

"I had a very interesting tour in the West. 

I was received everywhere in a manner suf- 
9 



130 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

ficient to gratify the feelings of any, the most 
illustrious for talents and public service. All 
parties everywhere united without distinction 
in a demonstration of respect, not exceeded 
by that shown to General Jackson in passing 
through the same places, and much greater 
than that extended to any other citizen. I 
everywhere was received , as the guest of the 
place, and passed without expense or charge 
through every town to and from Memphis." 85 
This was upon the occasion of the Memphis 
Convention, of the valley and adjoining States, 
to consider the development of navigation of 
the river, and of the consequent commerce. 
The celebrated "Memphis Memorial" was con- 
tributed by Mr. Calhoun on this occasion, in 
which he advocated the improvement of the 
river by the Federal government as constitu- 
tional under the commerce clause. 

But to return from this digression. It was 
under the circumstances outlined above that 
Mr. Calhoun once more put on the harness and 
journeyed from Fort Hill to Washington. Not 
since 1833 and Nullification possibly had he 
been to an equal extent "the observed of all 
observers." A New York politician writes, 
December 26, 1845 : "Twenty times a day I 
am asked, 'What course will the great Calhoun 
take on the Oregon question?' " 86 

His speech on this occasion is one of the 

83 Correspondence, p. 674. 
86 Correspondence, p. 1066. 




FROM A PORTRAIT IN THE POSSESSION OF THE LATE 
ROBERT N. GOURDIN. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 131 

sublimest he ever delivered. It adds an in- 
spiring stanza to the great road-song to whose 
stately rhythm the Anglo-Saxon marches down 
the centuries.* 

'But I oppose war, not simply on the pa- 
triotic ground of a citizen looking to the free- 
dom and prosperity of his own country, but on 
still broader grounds, as a friend of improve- 
ment, civilization, and progress. Viewed in 
reference to them, at no period has it ever been 
so desirable to preserve the general peace which 
now blesses the world. Never in its history 
has a period occurred so remarkable as that 
which has elapsed since the termination of the 
great war in Europe, with the Battle of Water- 
loo, for the great advances made in all these 
particulars. Chemical and mechanical discov- 
eries and inventions have multiplied beyond all 
former example, adding, with their advance, to 
the comforts of life in a degree far greater and 
more universal than all that was ever known 
before. Civilization has, during the same 
period, spread its influence far and wide, and 
the general progress in knowledge, and its 
diffusion through all ranks of society, has out- 
stripped all that has ever gone before it. The 
two great agents of the physical world have 
become subject to the will of man, and have 
been made subservient to his wants and enjoy- 
ments ; I allude to steam and electricity, under 
whatever name the latter may be called. The 

*See Author's Note at end of chapter. 



132 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

former has overcome distance, both on land 
and water, to an extent which former genera- 
tions had not the least conception was pos- 
sible. It has, in effect, reduced the Atlantic to 
half its former width, while, at the same time, 
it has added threefold to the rapidity of inter- 
course by land. Within the same period, elec- 
tricity, the greatest and most diffuse of all 
known physical agents, has been made the in- 
strument for the transmission of thought — I 
will not say with the rapidity of lightning, but 
by lightning itself. Magic wires are stretching 
themselves in all directions over the earth, and 
when their mystic meshes shall have been united 
and perfected, our globe itself will become en- 
dowed with sensitiveness, so that whatever 
touches on any one point will be instantly felt on 
every other. All these improvements, all this 
increasing civilization, all the progress now 
making, would be in a great measure arrested 
by a war between us and Great Britain. As 
great as it is, it is but the commencement— the 
dawn of a new civilization, more refined, more 
elevated, more intellectual, more moral, than 
the present and all preceding it. Shall it be we 
who shall incur the high responsibility of re- 
tarding its advance, and by such a war as this 
would be? 

''I am, in this connection, opposed to war 
between the United States and Great Britain. 
They are the two countries furthest in advance 
in this great career of improvement and amel- 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 133 

ioration of the condition of our race. They 
are, besides, the two most commercial, and are 
diffusing, by their widely extended commerce, 
their blessings over the whole globe. We have 
been raised up by Providence for these great 
and noble purposes, and I trust we shall not 
fail to fulfil our high destiny. I am, besides, 
especially opposed to war with England at this 
time, because I hold that it is now to be de- 
cided whether we are to exist in future as 
friends or enemies. War, at this time, and for 
this cause, would decide supremacy; we shall 
hereafter stand in the attitude of enemies. It 
would give birth to a struggle in which one 
or the other would have to succumb before it 
terminated ; and which, in the end, might prove 
ruinous to both. On the contrary, if war can 
be avoided, powerful causes are now m opera- 
tion, calculated to cement and secure a lasting- 
— I hope a perpetual — peace between the two 
countries, by breaking down the barriers which 
impede their commerce, and thereby uniting 
them more closely by a vastly enlarged com- 
mercial intercourse, equally beneficial to both. 
If we should now succeed in setting the ex- 
ample of free trade between us, it would force 
all other civilized countries to follow it in the 
end. The consequence would be to diffuse a 
prosperity greater and more universal than can 
be well conceived, and to unite by bonds of 
mutual interest the people of all countries. But 
in advocating the cause of free trade, I am 



134 THE LIFE GF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

actuated not less by the political consequences 
likely to flow from it than the advantages to 
be derived from it in an economical point of 
view. I regard it in the dispensation of Provi- 
dence as one of the great means of ushering in 
the happy period foretold by inspired prophets 
and poets when war should be no more. 

"I am finally opposed to war because peace — 
peace is preeminently our policy. There may 
be nations, restricted to small territories, 
hemmed in on all sides, so situated that war 
may be necessary to their greatness. Such is 
not our case. Providence has given us an in- 
heritance stretching across the entire continent, 
from east to west, from ocean to ocean, and 
from north to south, covering by far the 
greater and better part of its temperate zone. 
It comprises a region not only of vast extent 
but abundant in all resources; excellent in cli- 
mate ; fertile and exuberant in soil ; capable of 
sustaining, in the plentiful enjoyment of all the 
necessaries of life, a population of ten times 
our present number. Our great mission, as a 
people, is to occupy this vast domain ; to re- 
plenish it with an intelligent, virtuous, and in- 
dustrious population ; to convert the forests 
into cultivated fields ; to drain the swamps and 
morasses, and cover them with rich harvests ; 
to build up cities, towns, and villages in every 
direction, and to unite the whole by the most 
rapid intercourse between all the parts. War 
would but impede the fulfilment of this high 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 135 

mission, by absorbing the means and diverting 
the energies which should be devoted to the 
purpose. On the contrary, secure peace, and 
time, under the guidance of a sagacious and 
cautious policy, "a wise and masterly inactiv- 
ity," will speedily accomplish the whole. I 
venture to say "a wise and masterly inactivity' ' 
in despite of the attempt to cast ridicule upon 
the expression. Those who have made the 
attempt would seem to confound such inactiv- 
ity with mere inaction. Nothing can be more 
unlike. They are as wide apart as the poles. 
The one is the offspring of indolence, or igno- 
rance, or indifference. The other is the result 
of the profoundest sagacity and wisdom — a 
sagacity which looks into the operations of the 
great causes in the physical, moral, and po- 
litical world; which, by their incessant opera- 
tion, are ever changing the condition of nations 
for good or evil ; and wisdom, which knows 
how to use and direct them when acting favor- 
ably, by slight touches, to facilitate their prog- 
ress, and by removing impediments which 
might thwart or impede their course — and not 
least, to wait patiently for the fruits of their 
operation. He who does not understand the 
difference between such inactivity and mere 
inaction — the doing of nothing — is still in the 
hornbook of politics, without a glimpse of 
those higher elements of statesmanship by 
which a country is elevated to greatness and 
prosperity. Time is operating in our favor 



136 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

with a power never before exerted in favor of 
any other people. It is our great friend, and 
under the guidance of such a policy it will ac- 
complish all that we can desire. Our popula- 
tion is now increasing at the rate of about 
600,000 annually, and is progressing with in- 
creased rapidity every year. It will average, if 
not impeded, nearly a million during the next 
twenty-five years, at the end of which period 
our population ought to reach to upwards of 
forty millions. With this vast increase, it is 
rolling westwardly with a strong and deep 
current, and will, by the end of that period, 
have spread from ocean to ocean. Its course 
is irresistible. The coast of the Pacific will 
then be probably as densely populated, and as 
thicklv studded with towns and villages, in 
proportion to its capacity to sustain population, 
as that of the Atlantic now is. At the same 
rate, we shall have increased to upwards of 
eighty millions of people at the end of another 
twenty-five years, when, with one foot on the 
Atlantic and the other on the Pacific, and 
occupying a position between the eastern and 
the western coasts of the old continent, we 
shall be better able to control the commerce of 
both oceans, and to exert an influence over 
both continents, than any other country in the 
world. If we avoid war, and adhere to peace, 
all this will be effected — effected, I trust, with- 
out the loss of our free popular institutions. 
I am aware how difficult is the task to preserve 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 137 

free institutions over so wide a space, and so 
immense a population ; but we are blessed with 
a Constitution admirably calculated to accom- 
plish it. Its elastic power is unequaled, which 
is to be attributed to its federal character. The 
hope of success depends on preserving that 
feature in its full perfection, and adhering to 
peace as our policy. War may make us great ; 
but let it never be forgotten that peace only 
can make us both great and free." 87 

He writes to his daughter some days after- 
wards, describing this occasion. He always 
gives her full accounts of what is going on, 
and between her and himself there seems to 
have subsisted a relation of the most perfect 
sympathy and affection : 

"* * * I enclose you a copy of my speech 
delivered last week on the Oregon question. I 
shall enclose several to Mr. Clemson, but the 
one enclosed is intended especially for yourself. 
Many of my friends think it the best I ever 
delivered. It was certainly received in a man- 
ner highly calculated to be gratifying to myself 
and friends. I received congratulations on all 
sides when I sat down, even from the most 
violent of the 54 40' men. Such was the 
anxiety to hear me that the crowd began to 
collect at eight o'clock, and long before the 
hour the galleries and the passages were 
blocked up. Thousands had to retire for the 
want of room. 

87 Works, IV, p. 283 et seq. 



138 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

"I spoke very late in the debate, after, in- 
deed, it had* begun to drag very heavily, and 
delicacy forbid me from touching on the sub- 
ject of title. I felt the delicacy of my position, 
and could not (knowing the great anxiety to 
hear me) but feel some solicitude; and was not 
a little relieved when all was over, and I could 
perceive from indications all around that I had 
not fell below expectations. * * * 

"I have said more about myself, my dear 
daughter, than I would to any one else, not 
from any feeling of vanity, but because I know 
it would gratify you and Mr. Clemson to learn 
in what manner my effort on such a question 
was received by the audience on the occasion. 

* * %. " 88 

War was averted, the negotiation closed by 
a compromise, the forty-ninth parallel of lati- 
tude, instead of the Columbia River, forming 
the northern boundary of the United States. 

88 Correspondence, p. 684. 

Author's Note. — Reference to a passage in Carlyle's Past 
and Present, which had vaguely suggested itself in this connec- 
tion, reveals the fact that there must have been here a sort of 
unconscious plagiarism. The passage runs thus: "My ingenuous 
readers, we will march out of this third book with a rhythmic 
word of Goethe's on our lips; a word which perhaps has already 
sung itself, in dark hours and bright, through many a heart. 
To me, finding it devout yet wholly credible and ^veritable, full 
of piety yet free of cant; to me, joyfully finding much in it, 
and joyfully missing so much in it, this little snatch of music, 
by the greatest German Man, sounds like a stanza in the grand 
Road-Song and Marching bong of our great Teutonic Kindred, 
wending, wending, valiant and victorious, through the undiscov- 
ered Deeps of Time! He calls it Mason-Lodge — not Psalm or 
1 [ymn : 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 



139 



The Mason's ways are 
A type of Existence, 
And his persistence 
Is as the days are 
Of men in this world. 



While earnest thou gazest, 
Comes boding of terror, 
Comes phantasm and error, 
Perplexes the bravest 
With doubt and misgiving. 



The Future hides in it 
Gladness and sorrow; 
We press still thorow, 
Nought that abides in it 
Daunting us — onward. 



But heard are the Voices, 
Heard are the Sages, 
The Worlds and the Ages: 
'Choose well; your choice is 
Brief and yet endless: 



And solemn before us, 
Veiled, the dark Portal, 
Goal of all mortal — 
Stars silent rest o'er us, 
Graves under us silent! 



'Here eyes do regard you, 
In Eternity's stillness; 
Here is all fulness, 
Ye brave, to reward you; 
Work, and despair not.' ' 



CHAPTER X. 

Mexican War. 

Hard on the heels of the Oregon dispute 
trod the War with Mexico. It was a narrow 
escape. If the Mexican trouble had developed 
only a few days earlier, the Oregon compro- 
mise would probably have miscarried. To J. 
E. Calhoun, ]ohn C. Calhoun writes, July 2, 
1846: 

'* * * The settlement of the Oregon ques- 
tion has given great and, I may almost say, uni- 
versal, satisfaction. It was effected in the 
nick of time. It is now known that had the 
English proposition been delayed five days, 
until the news of our declaration of war against 
Mexico had arrived, the settlement would not 
have been made. As it was, there was a 
division in the British Cabinet on the subject 
of the offer. How great the folly to endanger 
the Oregon settlement by the rash, thoughtless 
and unwarranted movement of our troops to 
the Del Xorte ! Your views in reference to 
that and Slidell's conduct are perfectly correct. 
Much effort has been made to misrepresent my 
course in reference to the Mexican war, in 
order to render it unpopular; but, as far as I 
can learn, without much success. If I have 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. I4I 

lost anything with the thoughtless, I have been 
more than compensated by the increased hold 
I have obtained on the reflecting and pa- 
triotic." 89 

"The movement of troops to the Del Norte" 
has reference to the movement, under orders 
of the President, Mr. Polk, of General Taylor 
from Corpus Christi, on the River Nueces, to 
the Rio Grande del Norte. Mr. Calhoun al- 
ways considered this the cause of the war, and 
deemed it a rash and unwarranted act. 

In his speech, February 24, 1847, m re Pty 
to Mr. Benton, Mr. Calhoun discusses various 
features of the war and allied topics. The fol- 
lowing extract will show that the relations be- 
tween Mr. Calhoun and his assailant were not 
very intimate : "But to bring the matter home, 
the Senator himself is in no small degree re- 
sponsible for the war. I intend no attack on 
him. I have made none, and will make none. 
The relations between him and myself, per- 
sonal and political, have long been such that 
self-respect and a sense of propriety forbid my 
alluding to him, except when unavoidable, and 
then in a courteous manner ; and I now allude 
to his course only because it is necessary to ex- 
plain mine, and the motives which governed 
me on the occasion." 90 

As to the cause of the war : "Every measure 
towards the accomplishment of annexation had 



89 Correspondence, p. 698. 

90 Works, IV, p. 378. 



142 THE LIFE CF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

been consummated before the present admin- 
istration came into power. No war followed, 
although the act of annexation had been com- 
pleted more than a year before the rupture 
between us and Mexico took place ; nor would 
war have followed at all had we acted with or- 
dinary prudence. That Mexico was chafed, 
chagrined ; that she threatened much and blus- 
tered much ; talked about war, and even the 
existence of hostilities, is all true. It was, 
however, but talk. The strong should always 
permit the weak and aggrieved to talk, to blus- 
ter, and scold, without taking offense ; and if we 
had so acted, and exercised proper skill in the 
management of our affairs, Mexico and our- 
selves would, by this time, have quietly and 
peaceably settled all difficulties, and been good 
friends. We have chosen to pursue the oppo- 
site course, and are at war. 

"Every Senator knows that I was opposed 
to the war; but none knows but myself the 
depth of that opposition. With my conceptions 
of its character and consequences, it was im- 
possible for me to vote for it. When, accord- 
ingly, I was deserted by every friend on this 
side of the House, including my then honorable 
colleague among the rest (Mr. McDuffie), I 
was not shaken in the least degree in reference 
to my course. On the passage of the act 
recognizing the war, I said to many of my 
friends that a deed had been done from which 
the country would not be able to recover for a 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. I43 

long time, if ever; and added, it has dropped 
a curtain between the present and the future 
which to me is impenetrable, and for the first 
time since I have been in public life I am unable 
to see the future. I also added that it has closed 
the first volume of our political history under 
the Constitution and opened the second, and 
that no mortal could tell what would be writ- 
ten in it. These deep impressions were made 
upon my mind because I saw from the circum- 
stances under which the war was made a total 
departure from that course of policy which had 
governed the country from the commencement 
of our government until that time; and this, 
too, under circumstances calculated to lead to 
most disastrous consequences. Since then less 
than a year has elapsed, but in that short period 
enough has already been developed to make 
what was then said look like prophecy/' 01 

The last paragraph is well worth dwelling 
on. Its content might be unfolded into vol- 
umes. Here we have the words of the one 
man in the country who understood what was 
occurring. "None but myself knows the depth 
of that opposition." "It has dropped a cur- 
tain." "It has closed the first volume of our 
political history." It is easier now, after more 
than fifty years have elapsed, to understand the 
full significance of these remarks. All his con- 
temporaries were lifted from their feet and 
carried clear away by the great current of war 

91 Works, IV, p. 370. 



M4 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

feeling; not so he. "For like the hectic in my 
blood he rages." says Hamlet's uncle. Mr. 
Calhoun perceived the war — feeling thus "rage 
like the hectic." He realized that as soon as 
the war was over the virus of abolitionism 
would find all too favorable lodgment in the 
blood so lately heated, and strike to the surface 
a whole host of malignant symptoms. Truly 
enough the Mexican War closed the first vol- 
ume of United States history. Here was the 
beginning of the end. Soon reason fled from 
the country's borders ; possessed of some devil, 
the Union fell on those wild delirious days, 
when its flag was drenched in blood, and the 
Constitution torn by the blasts of evil passion 
into a thousand rags and tatters. Here was 
the end of constitutional rights and protection 
of minorities. Hence rose triumphant the 
bloody falsehood of "majority rule" which, lo ! 
these many years, rears its horrid crest over a 
distracted people. Civil war, with all its dread- 
ful carnage; reconstruction, with all its loath- 
some outrage and oppression, and, later still, 
wild saturnalia of plunder, sanctioned with 
shameless hypocrisy under the highest names 
that virtue and honor afford; such have been 
the contents of this volume II. No mortal 
could foretell the detail, but all too well he 
realized what would be the general character. 
And so he opposed the Mexican War, and none 
but himself knew the depth of that opposition. 
When, in spite of his opposition, the war 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 



145 



was under way, he advocated a defensive rather 
than an offensive policy. He was in favor of 
holding the country already occupied by 
military force, that is the country whose west- 
ern boundary was the Rio Grande, as far up 
as El Paso, thence westward to the Gulf of 
California, thence southward to the Pacific. 
From the Atlantic to El Paso would be the 
main part requiring defense, for from El Paso 
to the Gulf of California the arid wildernesses 
of New Mexico and Arizona, peopled by a few 
fierce tribes of Indians, would, as shown by 
history, amply defend itself from any encroach- 
ment by Mexicans, and so maintain itself until 
ready for the influx of the tide of population 
from the United States. 

Mr. Calhoun's speeches in reference to these 
topics are such as to furnish many a text on 
the subject of "Imperialism." Indeed, this 
whole period, on closer inspection, presents to 
the student so many and such interesting fea- 
tures that it is almost impossible to remain 
within those bounds beyond which experience 
inexorably teaches the general reader may not 
with impunity be conducted. 

From a speech, February 9, 1847 : "The first 

and most important of them" (considerations 

which ought to govern the conduct of the war> 

"is, that in selecting a defensive line, it should 

be such as to- possess, in the greatest degree, 

such natural advantages as would require the 

smallest sacrifice of men and money to defend 
10 



I46 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

it ; and anion? others, such as would afford 
every facility for drawing promptly supplies 
of men and provisions from the adjoining 
country. The next consideration in making 
the selection is that the country covered by it 
should be convenient and desirable for us to 
possess, if in the ultimate adjustment of the 
difference between us and Mexico it should 
become the established boundary of the two 
countries. I go further and add that it should 
be such as would deprive Mexico in the small- 
est possible degree of her resources and her 
strength, for in aiming to do justice to our- 
selves in establishing the line, we ought, in my 
opinion, to inflict the least possible amount of 
injury on Mexico. I hold, indeed, that we 
ought to be just and liberal to her, not only 
because she is our neighbor ; not only because 
she is a sister republic ; not only because she is 
emulous now, in the midst of all her difficulties, 
and has ever been, to imitate our example by 
establishing a federal republic ; not only be- 
cause she is one of the two greatest powers on 
this continent of all the States that have grown 
out of the provinces formerly belonging to 
Spain and Portugal, though these are high 
considerations, which every American ought to 
feel, and which every generous and sympa- 
thetic heart would feei, vet there are others 
which refer more immediately to ourselves. 
The course of policy which we ought to pursue 
in regard to Mexico is one of the greatest 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. I 4/ 

problems in our foreign relations. Our true 
policy, in my opinion, is not to weaken or 
humble her; on the contrary, it is our interest 
to see her strong, and respectable, and capable 
of sustaining all the relations that ought to 
exist between independent nations. I hold that 
there is a mysterious connection between the 
fate of this country and that of Mexico, s< » 
much so that her independence and capability 
of sustaining herself are almost as essential to 
our prosperity, and the maintenance of our 
institutions, as they are to hers. Mexico is to 
us the forbidden fruit; the penalty of eating it 
would be to subject our institutions to political 
death." 92 

On January 4, 1848: "After the most ma- 
ture reflection which I have been able to ^ive 
to the subject, I am of opinion now, and have 
been from the first, that the only one by which 
it* can be certainly guarded against is to take 
the question of indemnity into our own hands, 
to occupy defensively, and hold subject to ne- 
gotiation, a portion of the territory of Mexico, 
which we may deem ample to cover all proper 
claims upon her, and which will be best suited 
to us to acquire, and least disadvantageous to 
her to lose. Such was my impression when 
the message of the President of the United 
States recommended to Congress the recog- 
nition of the existence of a war with Mexico. 



■■'- Works, IV, p. 306. 
I 'anger to our institutions. 



I48 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

My view, at that time, as to the proper course 
to be pursued was to vote the supplies, to 
rescue General Taylor and his army from the 
dangers which surrounded them, and take time 
to determine whether we should recognize the 
war or not. Had it been adopted, I would 
have insisted on raising a provisional army, to 
be collected at some proper point, and to be 
trained and disciplined; but to postpone the 
declaration of war until the Congress of 
Mexico, in which, according to her Constitu- 
tion, the war-making power resided, should be 
allowed time to disavow the intention of 
making war on us, and to adjust all differences 
between the two countries. But if she refused, 
even then I would have advised to seize, by 
way of reprisal, the portion of her territory 
which we might select, and hold it defensively, 
as I have just stated, instead of declaring war 
formally against her — and that mainly for the 
purpose of avoiding the very dangers against 
which these resolutions are intended to guard. 
But such was the urgency which was supposed 
then to exist that no time was allowed to 
present or press these views upon the Senate. 
Such a course, besides the saving of an im- 
mense sacrifice of men and money, and avoid- 
ing the many other evils to which the course 
adopted has already subjected the country, 
would have effectually prevented our being en- 
tangled in the affairs of Mexico, from which 
we find it now so difficult to extricate our- 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 149 

selves. This consideration alone gives it de- 
cisive advantages over the course adopted, and 
makes it vastly superior, even if it should in- 
volve the same sacrifice of men and money to 
maintain a defensive line, as would, to use the 
usual phrase, the vigorous prosecution of the 
war. Mexico is to us as a dead body, and this 
is the only way that we can cut the cord which 
binds us to the corpse." 93 

The resolutions referred to were those in 
support of which the present speech was de- 
livered : 

"Resolved, That to conquer Mexico, and to 
hold it, either as a province or to incorporate it 
in the Union, would be inconsistent with the 
avowed object for which the war has been 
prosecuted; a departure from the settled policy 
of the Government ; in conflict with its char- 
acter and genius ; and, in the end, subversive 
of our free and popular institutions. 

"Resolved, That no line of policy in the 
further prosecution of the war should be 
adopted which may lead to consequences so 
disastrous." 

It will appear from an inspection of the map 
that the line which Mr. Calhoun recommended 
be defensively occupied is practically the line 
finally agreed upon by the treaty. The United 
States under the treaty paid $15,000,000. 

Such is a partial view of that great series of 

93 Works, IV, p. 419. 



150 THE LIFE CF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

events which followed each other in rapid suc- 
cession — Texas, Oregon, Mexico. The treaty 
with Mexico was the closing of the third chap- 
ter of the series, but that chapter was scarcely 
closed before another of far deeper import was 
opened. It was asserted above that to Mr. 
Calhoun, more than to any other one man, was 
due the peaceful acquisition of Texas and Ore- 
gon, and that, if his counsel had been heeded, 
the Mexican territory also would have been ac- 
quired at no greater pecuniary cost and with- 
out the war. Enough has now been presented 
to substantiate those assertions. It is appro- 
priate that so great a man should have been 
thus closely connected with the acquisition of 
so considerable a portion of the territory of his 
country. 



CHAPTER XL 

Abolitionism. 

To some readers it may appear strange that 
the present subject has been reserved for so 
late a stage and elsewhere so lightly touched 
upon. The arrangement is adopted not with- 
out consideration, and not in the least for the 
purpose of keeping it in the background. It 
is hoped that the present plan is calculated to 
show in truer proportions the several features 
of Mr. Calhoun's career. The current concep- 
tions are utterly inadequate. The fact is that, 
had •there never been a negro in the United 
States, still Mr. Calhoun's name would have 
been stamped in characters large and indelible 
across the page of American history. Indeed, 
when his various contributions to the world's 
stock of political knowledge are truly consid- 
ered, and some conception formed of the num- 
bers of mankind of present and future genera 
tions liable to be affected by his doctrines, 
African slavery, and even the Civil War, vast 
and dreadful as the latter was, sink to the in- 
significance of episodes. The theories he has 
expounded of commerce and finance, above all, 
the explanations he has left of record of the 
proper mode of protecting minorities and so 



152 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

upbuilding society, will, sooner or later, find 
application to untold millions. 

We are told that Columbus, by predicting 
an eclipse of the sun, easily awed the Indians 
into complete submission. Prediction of 
events, to those who are unacquainted with 
natural laws, appears a miracle. To many a 
reader of today Mr. Calhoun's predictions as 
to the results of abolitionism appear little short 
of miraculous. It is, however, no miracle. He 
understood. That is the explanation. The cor- 
respondence down to details of subsequent his- 
tory with his forecast, at first glance no less 
than startling, is thus reduced within natural 
bounds. Natural as it may thus be accounted, 
it is none the less significant as an index of the 
value of his teachings on other subjects. We 
have his predictions on subjects of wider appli- 
cation and greater moment. It is only from 
the circumstances of the case that their veri- 
fication is not so easily rendered complete as 
in the present instance. 

It is a remarkable fact that Mr. Calhoun, at 
the time of its adoption, thought well of the 
Missouri Compromise. Jefferson knew other- 
wise. Those oft-quoted words of his may once 
again be repeated : "I had for a long time 
ceased to read newspapers, or pay any atten- 
tion to public affairs, confident that they were 
in good hands, and content to be a passenger 
in our barque to the shore from which I am 
not far distant. But this momentous question. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 153 

like a fire-bell in the night, awakened and filled 
me with terror. I considered it at once as the 
knell of the Union. It is hushed, indeed, for 
the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not 
the final sentence. A geographical line, coincid- 
ing with a marked principle, moral and politi- 
cal, once conceived and held up to the angry 
passions of men, will never be obliterated ; and 
every new irritation will mark it deeper and 
deeper. * * * I regret that I am now to die 
in the belief that the useless sacrifice of them- 
selves by the generation of 1776, to acquire 
self-government and happiness to their coun- 
try, is to be thrown away by the unwise and 
unworthy passions of their sons, and that my 
only consolation is to be that I shall not live 
to weep over it." 94 It is almost difficult to be- 
lieve that the date of this utterance is 1820. 
Jefferson understood. Calhoun at this time had 
not yet learned. But experience was rapidly 
teaching him. In 1833 he had learned. Here 
is an obiter dictum from his reply to Webster 
in 1833 : "For the first time we have heard an 
ominous reference to a provision in the Con- 
stitution which I have never known to be be- 
fore alluded to in discussion, or in connection 
with any of our measures. I refer to that pro- 
vision in the Constitution in which the general 
government guarantees a republican form of 
government to the States — a power which 

94 Works, IV, p. 492. Letter Thomas Jefferson to John 
Holmes. 



154 THE LI FE CF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

hereafter, if not rigidly restricted to the objects 
intended by the Constitution, is destined to be 
? pretext to interfere with our political affairs 
and domestic institutions in a manner infinitely 
more dangerous than any other power which 
has ever been exercised on the part of the gen- 
eral government. I had supposed that every 
Southern Senator, at least, would have been 
awake to the danger which menaces us from 
this new quarter, and that no sentiment would 
be uttered on their part calculated to counte- 
nance the exercise of this dangerous power. 
With these impressions, I heard the Senator 
with amazement alluding to Carolina as fur- 
nishing a case which called for the enforcement 
of this guarantee. Does he not see the hazard 
of the indefinite extension of so fatal a power ? 
There exists in every Southern State a do- 
mestic institution, which would require a far 
less bold construction to consider the govern- 
ment of every State in that quarter, not to be 
republican, and, of course, to demand, on the 
part of this government, the suppression of the 
institution to which I allude, in fulfilment of 
the guarantee. I believe there are now no hos- 
tile feelings combined with political considera- 
tions, in any section, connected with this deli- 
cate subject. But it requires no stretch of the 
imagination to see the danger which must one 
day come, if not vigilantly watched. With the 
rapid strides with which this government is 
advancing to power, a time will come, and that 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 1 55 

not far distant, when petitions will be re- 
ceived from the quarter to which I allude for 
protection — when the faith of the guarantee 
will be, at least, as applicable to that case as 
the Senator from Georgia now thinks it is to 
Carolina. Unless his doctrine be opposed by 
united and firm resistance, its ultimate effect 
will be to drive the white population from the 
Southern Atlantic States." 95 So far this has 
only been consummated at certain points on 
the coast. 

In 1836 the question of the reception of 
abolition petitions came up. Mr. Calhoun was 
on the alert at the door of the Senate to stamp 
on the hydra-headed monster at the threshold. 
His compeers thought him the veriest alarmist. 
Here are some of his words' upon this occasion : 
"If a petition should be presented praying the 
abolition of the Constitution (wdiich we are 
all bound by our oaths to protect), according 
to this abominable doctrine it must be received. 
So if it prayed the abolition of the Decalogue, 
or of the Bible itself. I go further. If the 
abolition societies should be converted into a 
body of atheists, and should ask the passage 
of a law denying the existence of the Almighty 
Being above us, the Creator of all, according 
to this blasphemous doctrine we would be 
bound to receive the petition, to take jurisdic- 
tion of it. * * *" 9e "It is a war of religious 



83 Works, II, p. 308. 
86 Works, II, p. 481. 



156 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

and political fanaticism mingled, on the part 
of the leaders, with ambition and the love of 
notoriety — and waged, not against our lives, 
but our character. The object is to humble 
and debase us in our own estimation, and that 
of the world in general ; to blast our reputation, 
while they overthrow our domestic institutions. 
This is the mode in which they are attempting 
abolition, with such ample means and untiring 
industry; and now is the time for all who are 
opposed to them to meet the attack. How can 
it be successfully met? This is the important 
question. There is but one way: we must 
meet the enemy on the frontier— on the ques- 
tion of receiving; we must secure that impor- 
tant pass; it is our Thermopylae. The power 
of resistance, by an universal law of nature, is 
on the exterior. Break through the shell, pene- 
trate the crust, and there is no resistance 
within. In the present contest, the question on 
receiving constitutes our frontier. It is the 
first, the exterior question, that covers and pro- 
tects all the others. Let it be penetrated by 
receiving this petition, and not a point of re- 
sistance can be found within, as far as this 
government is concerned. If we cannot main- 
tain ourselves there, we cannot on any interior 
position. Of all the questions that can be 
raised, there is not one on which we can rally 
on ground more tenable for ourselves, or more 
untenable for our opponents, not excepting the 
ultimate question of abolition in the States. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 157 

"With these impressions, I ask 
neither sympathy nor compassion for the slave- 
holding States. We caj take care of ourselves. 
It is not we, but the Union, which is in danger. 
It is that which demands our care — demands 
that the agitation of this question shall cease 
here — that you shall refuse to receive these pe- 
titions, and decline all jurisdiction over the 
subject of abolition, in every form and shape. 
It is only on these terms that the Union can 
be safe. We cannot remain here in an endless 
struggle in defense of our character, our prop- 
erty, and institutions." 98 

The following will illustrate Mr. Calhoun's 
views, as expounded during the series of years 
which followed : 

December, 1837.—'! fear, said Mr. Cal- 
houn, that the Senate has not elevated its views 
sufficiently to comprehend the extent and mag- 
nitude of the existing danger. It was, per- 
haps, his misfortune to look too much to the 
future, and to move against dangers at too 
great a distance, which had involved him in 
many difficulties, and exposed him often to the 
imputation of unworthy motives. * * * He 
now saw with equal clearness, as clear as the 
noonday sun, the fatal consequences which 
must follow if the present disease be not timely 
arrested. This was the only question of suf- 
ficient magnitude and potency to divide this 



97 Works, II, p. 483. 

98 Works, II, p. 489. 



158 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

Union; and divide it, it would, or drench the 
country in blood, if not arrested. * * *"" 
"He was not a member of Congress when that 
compromise" (Missouri) "was made; but it is 
due to candor to state that his impressions 
were in its favor ; but it is equally due to it to 
say that, with his present experience and 
knowledge of the spirit which then, for the 
first time, began to disclose itself, he had en- 
tirely changed in his opinion. He now be- 
lieved that it was a dangerous measure, and 
that it had clone much to rouse into action the 
present spirit. Had it then been mat with un- 
compromising opposition, such as a then dis- 
tinguished and sagacious member from Vir- 
ginia (Mr. Randolph), now no more, opposed 
to it, abolition might have been crushed for- 
ever in its birth. He then thought of Mr. 
Randolph as, he doubts not, many think of him 
now, who have not fully looked into this sub- 
ject, that he was too unyielding, too uncom- 
promising, too impracticable; but he had been 
taught his error, and took pleasure in acknowl- 
edging it." 100 

1844. — "He does not, however, deem it ir- 
relevant to state that, if the experience of more 
than half a century is to decide, it would be 
neither humane nor wise in them to change 
their policy. The census and other authentic 
documents show that, in all instances in which 



99 Works, III, p. 153. 
"° Works, III, p. 185. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 1 59 

the States have changed the former relation 
between the two races, the condition of the 
African, instead of being improved, has be- 
come worse. They have been invariably sunk 
into vice and pauperism, accompanied by the 
bodily and mental inflictions incident thereto — 
deafness, blindness, insanity, and idiocy — to a 
degree without example ; while, in all other 
States which have retained the ancient relation 
between them, they have improved greatly in 
every respect — in number, comfort, intelli- 
gence, and morals — as the following facts, 
taken from such sources, will serve to illus- 
trate : 

"The number of deaf and dumb, blind, 
idiots, and insane, of the negroes in the States 
that have changed the ancient relation between 
the races is i out of every 96, while in the 
States adhering to it it is one out of every 672 
— that is, 7 to 1 in favor of the latter as com- 
pared with the former. 

"The number of whites, deaf and dumb, 
blind, idiots, and insane, in the States that have 
changed the relation is 1 in every 561, being 
nearly 6 to 1 against the free blacks in the 
same States. 

"The number of negroes who are deaf and 
dumb, blind, idiots, and insane, paupers, and in 
prison in the States that have changed is 1 out 
of every 6 ; and in the States that have not, I 
out of every 154, or 22 to 1 against the former, 
as compared with the latter. 



l60 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

"Taking the two extremes of North and 
South — in the State of Maine the number of 
negroes returned as deaf and dumb, blind, in- 
sane, and idiots, by the census of 1840, is 1 
out of every 12; and in Florida, by the same 
returns, is 1 out of every 1,105, or 9 2 to I m 
favor of the slaves of Florida as compared 
with the free blacks of Maine. 

"In addition, it deserves to be remarked that 
in Massachusetts, where the change in the 
ancient relation of the two races was first made 
(now more than sixty years since), where the 
greatest zeal has been exhibited in their behalf, 
and where their number is comparatively few 
(but little more than 8,000 in a population of 
upwards of 730,000), the condition of the 
African is amongst the most wretched. By 
the latest authentic accounts, there was 1 out 
of every 21 of the black population in jails or 
houses of correction, and 1 out of every 13 
was either deaf and dumb, blind, idiot, insane, 
or in prison. On the other hand, the census 
and other authentic information establish the 
fact that the condition of the African race, 
throughout all the States where the ancient re- 
lation between the two has been retained, en- 
joys a degree of health and comfort which may 
well compare with that of the laboring popu- 
lation of any country in Christendom; and it 
may be added that in no other condition, or in 
any other age or country, has the negro race 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. l6l 



ever attained so high an elevation in morals, 
intelligence, or civilization." 101 

February 19, 1847. — "Sir, the day that the 
balance between the two sections of the coun- 
try — the slaveholding States and the nonslave- 
holding States — is destroyed is a day that will 
not be far removed from political revolution, 
anarchy, civil war, and widespread disaster. 
The balance of this system is in the slavehold- 
ing States. They are the conservative portion, 
always have been the conservative portion, al- 
ways will be the conservative portion, and with 
a due balance on their part, may, for genera- 
tions to come, uphold this glorious Union of 
ours. But if this scheme should be carried 
out ; if we are to be reduced to a handful ; if 
we are to become a mere ball to play the presi- 
dential game with, to count something in the 
Baltimore caucus ; if this is to be the result, 
woe! woe! I say, to this Union." 102 

Again on the next day: "* * * We know 
what we are about, we foresee what is coming, 
and move with no other purpose but to protect 
our portion of the Union from the greatest of 
calamities — not insurrection, but something 
worse. I see the end, if the process is to go on 
unresisted : it is to expel in time the white 
population of the Southern States, and leave 
the blacks in possession." 103 

June 27, 1848. — ''But I go further, and hold 

101 Works, V, p. 337. 

102 Works, IV, p. 343. 

103 Works, IV, p. 360. 

11 



1 62 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 



that justice and the Constitution are the 
easiest and safest ground on which the question 
can be settled, regarded in reference to party. 
It may be settled on that ground simply by 
non-action — by leaving the territories free and 
open to the emigration of all the world, so long 
as they continue so — and when they become 
States, to adopt whatever Constitution they 
please, with the single restriction, to be repub- 
lican, in order to their admission into the 
Union. If a party canot safely take this broad 
and solid position and successfully maintain it, 
what other can it take and maintain? If it 
cannot maintain itself by an appeal to the great 
principles of justice, the Constitution, and self- 
government, to what other, sufficiently strong 
to uphold them in public opinion, can they ap- 
peal ? I greatly mistake the character of the 
people of this Union if such an appeal would 
not prove successful, if either party should 
have the magnanimity to step forward and 
boldly make it. It would, in my opinion, be 
received with shouts of approbation by the 
patriotic and intelligent in every quarter. 
There is a deep feeling pervading the country 
that the Union and our political institutions 
are in danger, which such a course would dis- 
pel, and spread joy over the land. 

"Now is the time to take the step, and bring 
about a result so devoutly to be wished. I 
have believed from the beginning that this was 
the only question sufficiently potent to dissolve 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 163 

the Union, and subvert our system of govern- 
ment ; and that the sooner it was met and set- 
tled, the safer and better for all. I have never 
doubted but that, if permitted to progress be- 
yond a certain point, its settlement would be- 
come impossible, and am under deep conviction 
that it is now rapidly approaching it, and that 
if it is ever to be averted, it must be done 
speedily. In uttering these opinions, I look to 
the whole. If I speak earnestly, it is to save 
and protect all. As deep as is the stake of the 
South in the Union and our political institu- 
tions, it is not deeper than that of the North. 
We shall be as well prepared and as capable 
of meeting whatever may come as you. 

"Now, let me say, Senators, if our Union 
and system of government are doomed to 
perish, and we to share the fate of so many 
great people who have gone before us, the his- 
torian who, in some future day, may record 
the events ending in so calamitous a result, will 
devote his first chapter to the ordinance of 
1787, lauded as it and its authors have been, 
as the first of that series which led to it." If 
anyone wishes to realize the force of this ob- 
servation, let him read Webster's 7th of March 
speech, but more especially Mr. Lincoln's 
Cooper Institute address, the upshot of the 
logic of which has been said to be that because 
the States themselves (before the Constitu- 
tion) agreed that slavery should be excluded 
from the Northwestern territorv, therefore 



164 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

Congress (after the Constitution) has the 
power to exclude slavery from all other ter- 
ritory whatsoever that might thereafter fall to 
the Union ! "His next chapter will be de- 
voted to the Missouri Compromise, and the 
next to the present agitation. Whether there 
will be another beyond, I know not. It will 
depend on what we may do." 104 

August 12, 1849. — "I nave now stated my 
reasons for believing that the abolition agita- 
tion will never stop of itself, nor ever will be 
stopped through the Presidential election, or 
the action of this government; and that 
nothing short of the united and fixed deter- 
mination of the South to maintain her rights 
at every hazard can stop it. Without this, the 
end must be emancipation in the worst possible 
form — far worse than if done by our own vol- 
untary act, instead of being compelled to adopt 
it at the bidding of a dominant section, whose 
interest and sympathy for them, and hostility 
to us, would combine to reverse the present re- 
lation between the two races in the South, by 
raising the inferior to be the favored and su- 
perior, and sinking the superior to be the in- 
ferior and despised." 105 

Can the record of Reconstruction add a 
word to this? 

Such during the course of sixteen years w r ere 
Mr. Calhoun's views on this vital question, 

1W Works, IV, p. 506 et seq. 
™ Works, IV, p. 529. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 165 

clear and consistent ; unanswerable then by any 
voice of reason; incontrovertible now in the 
light of recorded history. The last great scene 
of his life remained yet to be enacted. His 
health was now rapidly failing. Many thought 
he would be unable to attend the session of 
Congress. But the South, the Union, was in 
danger, and once again, in December, 1849, ne 
took his place in the Senate. The dramatic 
pathos of his last great appearance has been 
the theme of many pens. The correspondent 
of the Charleston Mercury writes thus from 
Washington, March 4, 1850: "Mark today 
with a white spot, for we have had a speech 
from Mr. Calhoun, and there is but one opinion 
of it; that is, it is the speech of the session. 
Mr. Calhoun entered the Senate Chamber at 
half-past twelve. He was accompanied by 
Gen. James Hamilton. His step, as he came in, 
seemed almost as firm and elastic as ever, but 
he looks quite emaciated. The chamber was 
thronged, although it was* known that his 
speech would be read by another Senator ( Mr. 
Mason, of Virginia). The fact that Mr. Cal- 
houn was to be present was quite sufficient to 
call together an unusual number of spectators. 
When the hour arrived, Mr. Calhoun rose and 
made a few remarks, and then delivered the 
manuscript copy of his speech to Mr. Mason. 
The latter had no sooner commenced reading 
it than the attention of almost every person 
present was immediately arrested, and the most 



l66 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

perfect silence reigned until he closed. Web- 
ster and Clay sat like statues. * * * The true 
friends of the South were of one mind, and 
that was that Mr. Calhoun had even outdone 
all his former efforts. Mr. Calhoun, after his 
speech was read, was very warmly and cor- 
dially congratulated by nearly every Senator. 
The most interesting spectacle was presented 
after the Senate adjourned. There was Clay, 
Calhoun, and Webster, standing together for 
some time near the Clerk's desk, and con- 
versing about the speech. * * *" 

Surely it is little to ask of the reader to 
transport himself in imagination to that scene, 
and once again, in sympathy with the audience 
so called back from the tombs to listen to the 
words of the death-stricken Senator, as they 
fall from the lips of Senator Mason : 

T have, Senators, believed from the first 
that the agitation of the subject of slavery 
would, if not prevented by some timely and 
effective measure, end in disunion. Entertain- 
ing this opinion, I have, on all proper oc- 
casions, endeavored to call the attention of both 
the two great parties which divide the country 
to adopt some measure to prevent so great a 
disaster, but without success. The agitation 
has been permitted to proceed, with almost no 
attempt to resist it, until it has reached a point 
when it can no longer be disguised or denied 
that the Union is in danger. You have thus had 
forced upon you the greatest and the gravest 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 167 

question that can ever come under your con- 
sideration — How can the Union be preserved? 

u To give a satisfactory answer to this 
mighty question, it is indispensable to have an 
accurate and thorough knowledge of the nature 
and the character of the cause by which the 
Union is endangered. Without such knowl- 
edge it is impossible to pronounce, with any 
certainty, by what measure it can be saved, 
just as it would be impossible for a physician 
to pronounce, in the case of some dangerous 
disease, with any certainty, by what remedy 
the patient could be saved, without similar 
knowledge of the nature and character of the 
cause which produced it. The first question, 
then, presented for consideration in the in- 
vestigation I propose to make, in order to ob- 
tain such knowledge is — What is it that has 
endangered the Union? 

"To this question there can be but one 
answer — that the immediate cause is the almost 
universal discontent which pervades all the 
States composing the Southern section of the 
Union. This widely-extended discontent is 
not of recent origin. It commenced with the 
agitation of the slavery question, and has been 
increasing ever since. The next question, 
going one step further back is — \\ nat has 
caused this widely diffused and almost uni- 
versal discontent ? 

k Tt is a great mistake to suppose, as is by 



l68 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

some, that it originated with demagogues, who 
excited the discontent with the intention of 
aiding their personal advancement, or with the 
disappointed ambition of certain politicians, 
who resorted to it as a means of retrieving 
their fortunes. On the contrary, all the great 
political influences of the section were arrayed 
against excitement, and exerted to the utmost 
to keep the people quiet. The great mass of 
the people of the South were divided, as in 
the other section, into Whigs and Democrats. 
The leaders and the presses of both parties in 
the South were very solicitous to prevent ex- 
citement and to preserve quiet, because it was 
seen that the effects of the former would neces- 
sarily tend to weaken, if not destroy, the politi- 
cal ties which united them with their respective 
parties in the other section. Those who know 
the strength of party ties will readily appre- 
ciate the immense force which this cause ex- 
erted against agitation, and in favor of pre- 
serving quiet. But, great as it was, it was not 
sufficient to prevent the widespread discontent 
which now pervades the section. No; some 
cause, far deeper and more powerful than the 
one supposed, must exist, to account for dis- 
content so wide and deep. The question then 
recurs — What is the cause of this discontent? 
It will be found in the belief of the people of 
the Southern States, as prevalent as the dis- 
content itself, that they cannot remain, as 
things now are, consistently with honor and 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. l6g 

safety, in the Union. The next question to be 
considered is — What has caused this belief? 

"One of the causes is, undoubtedly, to be 
traced to the long-continued agitation of the 
slave question on the part of the North, and 
the many aggressions which they have made 
on the rights of the South during the time. 
I will not enumerate them at present, as it 
will be done hereafter in its proper place. 

"There is another lying back of it — with 
which this is intimately connected — that may 
be regarded as the great and primary cause. 
This is to be found in the fact that the equilib- 
rium between the two sections, in the govern- 
ment as it stood when the Constitution was 
ratified and the government put in action, has 
been destroyed. At that time there was nearly 
a perfect equilibrium between the two, which 
afforded ample means to each to protect itself 
against the aggression of the other ; but, as it 
now stands, one section has the exclusive 
power of controlling the government, which 
leaves the other without any adequate means 
of protecting itself against its encroachment 
and oppression. To place this subject dis- 
tinctly before you, I have, Senators, prepared a 
brief statistical statement, showing the relative 
weight of the two sections in the government 
under the first census of 1790 and the last 
census of 1840. 

"According to the former, the population of 
the United States, including Vermont, Ken- 



TJO THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

lucky, and Tennessee, which then were in their 
incipient condition of becoming States, but 
were not actually admitted, amounted to 
3,929,827. Of this number the Northern 
States had 1,997,899, and the Southern 
1.952,072, making a difference of only 45,827 
in favor of the former States. The number of 
States, including Vermont, Kentucky, and 
Tennessee, were sixteen, of which eight, in- 
cluding Vermont, belonged to the Northern 
section, and eight, including Kentucky and 
Tennessee, to the Southern, making an equal 
division of the States between the two sections 
under the first census. There was a small pre- 
ponderance in the House of Representatives, 
and in the Electoral College, in favor of the 
Northern, owing to the fact that, according 
to the provisions of the Constitution, in esti- 
mating Federal numbers, five slaves count but 
three ; but it was too small to affect sensibly 
the perfect equilibrium which, with that excep- 
tion, existed at the time. Such was the 
equality of the two sections when the States 
composing them agreed to enter into a Federal 
Union. Since then the equilibrium between 
them has been greatly disturbed. 

"According to the last census the aggregate 
population of the United States amounted to 
17,063,357, of which the Northern section con- 
tained 9,728,920, and the Southern 7,334,437, 
making a difference, in round numbers, of 
2,400,000. The number of States had in- 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 171 

creased from sixteen to twenty-six, making an 
addition of ten States. In the meantime the 
position of Delaware had become doubtful as 
to which section she properly belonged. Con- 
sidering her as neutral, the Northern States 
will have thirteen and the Southern States 
twelve, making a difference in the Senate of 
two Senators in favor of the former. Accord- 
ing to the apportionment under the census of 
1840, there were two hundred and twenty - 
three members of the House of Representa- 
tives, of which the Northern States had one 
hundred and thirty-five, and the Southern 
States (considering Delaware as neutral), 
eighty-seven, making a difference in favor of 
the former in the House of Representatives of 
forty-eight. The difference in the Senate of 
two members, added to this, gives to the 
North, in the electoral college, a majority of 
fifty. Since the census of 1840, four States 
have been aded to the Union — Iowa, Wiscon- 
sin, Florida, and Texas. They leave the dif- 
ference in the Senate as it stood when the 
census was taken ; but add two to the side of 
the North in the House, making the present 
majority in the House in its favor fifty, and 
in the electoral college, fifty-two. 

'The result of the whole is to give the 
Northern section a predominance in every de- 
partment of the government, and thereby con- 
centrate in it the two elements which constitute 
the Federal government — majority of States, 



IJ2 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

and a majority of their population, estimated 
in Federal numbers. Whatever section con- 
centrates the two in itself possesses the control 
of the entire government. 

"But we are just at the close of the sixth 
decade, and the commencement of the seventh. 
The census is to be taken this year, which must 
add greatly to the decided preponderance of 
the North in the House of Representatives and 
in the electoral college. The prospect is, also, 
that a great increase will be added to its present 
preponderance in the Senate during the period 
of the decade, by the addition of new States. 
Two Territories, Oregon and Minnesota, are 
already in progress, and strenuous efforts are 
making to bring in three additional States 
from the territory recently conquered from 
Mexico, which, if successful, will add three 
other States in a short time to the Northern 
section, making five States, and increasing the 
present number of its States from fifteen to 
twenty, and of its Senators from thirty to 
forty. On the contrary, there is not a single 
territory in progress in the Southern section, 
and no certainty that any additional State will 
be added to it during the decade. The pros- 
pect, then, is that the two sections in the 
Senate, should the efforts now made to exclude 
the South from the newly acquired territories 
succeed, will stand, before the end of the 
decade, twenty Northern States to fourteen 
Southern (considering Delaware as neutral), 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 173 

and forty Northern Senators to twenty-eight 
Southern. This great increase of Senators, 
added to the great increase of members of the 
House of Representatives and the electoral 
college on the part of the North, which must 
take place under the next decade, will ef- 
fectually and irretrievably destroy the equilib- 
rium which existed when the government com- 
menced. 

"Had this destruction been the operation of 
time, without the interference of the govern- 
ment, the South would have had no reason to 
complain; but such was not the fact. It was 
caused by the legislation of this government, 
which was appointed as the common agent of 
all, and charged with the protection of the in- 
terests and security of all. The legislation by 
which it has been effected may be classed under 
three heads. The first is that series of acts by 
which the South has been excluded from the 
common territory belonging to all the State c 
as members of the Federal Union, which have 
had the effect of extending vastly the portion 
allotted to the Northern section, and restricting 
within narrow limits the portion left the South. 
The next consists in adopting a system of reve- 
nue and disbursements, by which an undue pro- 
portion of the burden of taxation has been im- 
posed upon the South, and an undue propor- 
tion of its proceeds appropriated to the North ; 
and the last is a system of political measures 
by which the original character of the govern- 



174 THE LIFE 0F JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

ment has been radically changed. I propose to 
bestow upon each of these, in the order they 
stand, a few remarks, with the view of showing 
that it is owing to the action of this govern- 
ment that the equilibrium between the two sec- 
tions has been destroyed and the whole powers 
of the system centered in a sectional majority. 
"The first of the series of acts by which the 
South was deprived of its due share of the ter- 
ritories originated with the confederacy which 
preceded the existence of this government. It 
is to be found in the provision of the ordinance 
of 1787. Its effect was to exclude the South 
entirely from that vast and fertile region which 
lies between the Ohio and the Mississippi 
rivers, now embracing five States and one Ter- 
ritory. The next of the series is the Missouri 
Compromise, which excluded the South from 
that large portion of Louisiana which lies north 
of 36 30', excepting what is included in the 
State of Missouri. The last of the series ex- 
cluded the South from the whole of the Oregon 
Territory. All these, in the slang of the day, 
were what are called slave Territories, and not 
free soil ; that is, Territories belonging to slave- 
holding powers and open to the emigration of 
masters with their slaves. By these several 
acts, the South was excluded from 1,238,025 
square miles — an extent of country consider- 
ably exceeding the entire valley of the Missis- 
sippi. To the South was left the portion of 
the Territory of Louisiana lying south of 36° 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 175 

30' and the portion north of it included in the 
State of Missouri, with the portion lying south 
of 36 30', including the States of Louisiana 
and Arkansas, and the territory lying west of 
the latter, and south of 36 30', called the 
Indian country. These, with the Territory of 
Florida, now the State, make, in the whole, 
283,503 square miles. To this must be added 
the territory acquired with Texas. If the 
whole should be added to the Southern section, 
it would make an increase of 325,520, which 
would make the whole left to the South 
609,023. But a large part of Texas is still in 
contest between the two sections, which leaves 
it uncertain what will be the real extent of the 
portion of territory that may be left to the 
South. 

"I have not included the territory recently 
acquired by the treaty with Mexico. The 
North is making the most strenuous efforts to 
appropriate the whole to herself, by excluding 
the South from every foot of it. If she should 
succeed, it will add to that from which the 
South has already been excluded 526,078 
square miles, and would increase the whole 
which the North has appropriated to herself 
to 1,764,023, not including the portion that she 
may succeed in excluding us from in Texas. 
To sum up the whole, the United States, since 
they declared their independence, have ac- 
quired 2,373,046 square miles of territory, 
from which the North will have excluded the 



176 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

South, if she should succeed in monopolizing 
the newly acquired territories, about three- 
fourths of the whole, leaving to the South but 
about one-fourth. 

"Such is the first and great cause that has 
destroyed the equilibrium between the two sec- 
tions in the government. 

'The next is the system of revenue and dis- 
bursements which has been adopted by the 
government. It is well known that the govern- 
ment has derived its revenue mainly from 
duties on imports. I shall not undertake to 
show that such duties must necessarily fall 
mainly on the exporting States, and that the 
South, as the great exporting portion of the 
Union, has in reality paid vastly more than her 
due proportion of the revenue, because I deem 
it unnecessary, as the subject has on so many 
occasions been fully discussed. Nor shall I, 
for the same reason, undertake to show that 
a far greater portion of the revenue has been 
disbursed at the North than its due share, and 
that the joint effect of these causes has been to 
transfer a vast amount from South to North 
which, under an equal system of revenue and 
disbursements, would not have been lost to her. 
If to this be added that many of the duties 
were imposed, not for revenue but for protec- 
tion — that is, intended to put money, not in 
the treasury but directly into the pocket of the 
manufacturers — some conception may be 
formed of the immense amount which, in the 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 1 77 

long course of sixty years, has been transferred 
from South to North. There are no data by 
which it can be estimated with any certainty; 
but it is safe to say that it amounts to hundreds 
of millions of dollars. Under the most mod- 
erate estimate, it would be sufficient to add 
greatly to the wealth of the North, and thus 
greatly increase her population by attracting 
emigration from all quarters to that section. 

"This, combined with the great primary 
cause, amply explains why the North has ac- 
quired a preponderance in every department 
of the government by its disproportionate in- 
crease of population and States. The former, 
as has been shown, has increased, in fifty years, 
2,400,000 over that of the South. This in- 
crease of population, during so long a period, 
is satisfactorily accounted for by the number 
of emigrants, and the increase of their descend- 
ants, which have been attracted to the North- 
ern section from Europe and the South, in 
consequence of the advantages derived from 
the causes assigned. If they had not existed — 
if the South had retained all the capital which 
has been extracted from her by the fiscal action 
of the government; and, if it had not been ex- 
cluded by the ordinance of 1787 and the Mis- 
souri Compromise from the region lying be- 
tween the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers, and 
between the Mississippi and the Rockv^ Moun- 
tains north of 36 ° 30' — it scarcely admits of a 

doubt that it would have divided the emigra- 
12 



178 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

tion with the North, and by retaining her own 
people, would have at least equaled the North 
in population under the census of 1840, and 
probably under that about to be taken. She 
would also, if she had retained her equal rights 
in those territories, have maintained an equal- 
ity in the number of States with the North, and 
have preserved the equilibrium between the two 
sections that existed at the commencement of 
the government. The loss, then, of the equilib- 
rium is to be attributed to the action of this 
government. 

"But while these measures were destroying 
the equilibrium between the two sections, the 
action of the government w r as leading to a 
radical change in its character, by concen- 
trating all the power of the system in itself. 
The occasion will not permit me to trace the 
measures by which this great change has been 
consummated. If it did, it would not be diffi- 
cult to show that the process commenced at an 
early period of the government, and that it 
proceeded, almost without interruption, step by 
step, until it absorbed virtually its entire 
powers ; but without going through the whole 
process to establish the fact, it may be done 
satisfactorily by a very short statement. 

'That the government claims, and practi- 
cally maintains, the right to decide in the last 
resort, as to the extent of its powers, will 
scarcely be denied by any one conversant with 
the political history of the country. That it 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 1/9 

also claims the right to resort to force to main- 
tain whatever power it claims, against all op- 
position, is equally certain. Indeed, it is ap- 
parent, from what we daily hear, that this has 
become the prevailing and fixed opinion of a 
great majority of the community. Now, I 
ask, what limitation can possibly be placed 
upon the powers of a government claiming 
and exercising such rights ? And, if none can 
be, how can the separate governments of the 
States maintain and protect the powers re- 
served to them by the Constitution, or the 
people of the several States maintain those 
which are reserved to them, and, among others, 
the sovereign powers by which they ordained 
and established not only their separate State 
Constitutions and governments, but also the 
Constitution and government of the United 
States? But, if they have no constitutional 
means of maintaining them against the right 
claimed by this government, it necessarily fol- 
lows that they hold them at its pleasure and 
discretion, and that all the powers of the sys- 
tem are in reality concentrated in it. It also 
follows that the character of the government 
has been changed in consequence from a fed- 
eral republic, as it originally came from the 
hands of its f ranters, into a great national con- 
solidated democracy. It has indeed, at present, 
all the characteristics of the latter, and not one 
of the former, although it still retains its out- 
ward form. 



ISO THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

'The result of the whole of these causes 
combined is that the North has acquired a de- 
cided ascendency over every department of this 
government, and through it a control over all 
the powers of the system. A single section, 
governed by the will of the numerical majority, 
has now, in fact, the control of the government 
and the entire powers of the system. What 
was once a constitutional federal republic is 
now converted, in reality, into one as absolute 
as that of the autocrat of Russia and as des- 
potic in its tendency as any absolute govern- 
ment that ever existed. 

"As, then, the North has the absolute con- 
trol over the government, it is manifest that 
on all questions between it and the South 
where there is a diversity of interests, the in- 
terest of the latter will be sacrificed to the 
former, however oppressive the effects may be, 
as the South possesses no means by which it 
can resist, through the action of the govern- 
ment. But if there was no question of vital 
importance to the South, in reference to which 
there was a diversity of views between the two 
sections, this state of things might be endured, 
without the hazard of destruction to the South. 
But such is not the fact. There is a question of 
vital importance to the Southern section in ref- 
erence to which the views and feelings of the 
two sections are as opposite and hostile as they 
can possibly be. 

"I refer to the relation between the two races 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. l8l 

in the Southern section, which constitutes a 
vital portion of her social organization. Every 
portion of the North entertains views and feel- 
ings more or less hostile to it. Those most 
opposed and hostile regard it as a sin, and con- 
sider themselves under the most sacred obliga- 
tion to use every effort to destroy it. Indeed, 
to the extent that they conceive they have 
power, they regard themselves as implicated in 
the sin, and responsible for not suppressing it 
by the use of all and every means. Those less 
opposed and hostile regard it as a crime, an 
offense against humanity, as they call it, and, 
although not so fanatical, feel themselves 
bound to use all efforts to effect the same ob- 
ject; while those who are least opposed and 
hostile regard it as a blot and a stain on the 
character of what they call the nation, and 
feel themselves accordingly bound to give it no 
countenance or support. On the contrary, the 
Southern section regards the relation as one 
which cannot be destroyed without subjecting 
the two races to the greatest calamity, and the 
section to poverty, desolation, and wretched- 
ness, and accordingly they feel bound, by 
every consideration of interest and safety, to 
defend it. 

"This hostile feeling on the part of the 
North towards the social organization of the 
South long lay dormant, but it only required 
some cause to act on those who felt most in- 
tensely that they were responsible for its con- 



1&2 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

tinuance to call it into action. The increasing 
power of this government, and of the control 
of the Northern section over all its depart- 
ments, furnished the cause. It was this which 
made an impression on the minds of many, 
that there was little or no restraint to prevent 
the government from doing whatever it might 
choose to do. This was sufficient of itself to 
put the most fanatical portion of the North in 
action, for the purpose of destroying the exist- 
ing relation between the two races in the 
South. 

'The first organized movement towards it 
commenced in 1835. Then, for the first time, 
societies were organized, presses established, 
lecturers sent forth to excite the people of the 
North, and incendiary publications scattered 
over the whole South, through the mail. The 
South was thoroughly aroused. Meetings 
were held everywhere, and resolutions adopted, 
calling upon the North to apply a remedy to 
arrest the threatened evil, and pledging them- 
selves to adopt measures for their own pro- 
tection, if it was not arrested. At the meeting 
of Congress, petitions poured in from the 
North, calling upon Congress to abolish slav- 
ery in the District of Columbia, and to pro- 
hibit what they called the internal slave trade 
between the States, announcing at the same 
time that their ultimate object was to abolish 
slavery, not only in the District, but in the 
States and throughout the Union. At this 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 183 

period, the number engaged in the agitation 
was small, and possessed little or no personal 
influence. 

"Neither party in Congress had, at that 
time, any sympathy with them or their cause. 
The members of each party presented their 
petitions with great reluctance. Nevertheless, 
small and contemptible as the party then was, 
both of the great parties of the North dreaded 
them. They felt that, though small, they were 
organized in reference to a subject which had a 
great and a commanding influence over the 
Northern mind. Each party, on that account, 
feared to oppose their petitions, lest the oppo- 
site party should take advantage of the one 
who might do so, by favoring them. The 
effect was that both united in insisting that the 
petitions should be received, and that Congress 
should take jurisdiction over the subject. To 
justify their course, they took the extraordi- 
nary ground that Congress was bound to re- 
ceive petitions on every subject, however ob- 
jectionable they might be, and whether they 
had, or had not, jurisdiction over the subject. 
These views prevailed in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, and partially in the Senate; and 
thus the party succeeded in their first move- 
ments in gaining what they proposed — a po- 
sition in Congress, from which agitation could 
be extended over the whole Union. This was 
the commencement of the agitation, which has 
ever since continued, and which, as is now ac- 



184 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

knowl edged, has endangered the Union itself. 

"As for myself, I believed at that early 
period, if the party who got up the petitions 
should succeed in getting Congress to take 
jurisdiction, that agitation would follow, and 
that it would in the end, if not arrested, destroy 
the Union. I then so expressed myself in de- 
bate, and called upon both parties to take 
grounds against assuming jurisdiction ; but in 
vain. Had my voice been heeded, and had 
Congress refused to take jurisdiction, by the 
united votes of all parties, the agitation which 
followed would have been prevented, and the 
fanatical zeal that gives impulse to the agita- 
tion, and which has brought us to our present 
perilous condition, would have become extin- 
guished, from the want of fuel to feed the 
flame. That was the time for the North to 
have shown her devotion to the Union ; but, 
unfortunately, both of the great parties of that 
section were so intent on obtaining or retaining 
party ascendency that all other considerations 
were overlooked or forgotten. 

'What has since followed are but natural 
consequences. With the success of their first 
movement, this small fanatical party began to 
acquire strength, and with that, to become an 
object of courtship to both the great parties. 
The necessary consequence was a further in- 
crease of power, and a gradual tainting of the 
opinions of both of the other parties with their 
doctrines, until the infection has extended over 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 185 

both ; and the great mass of the population of 
the North, who, whatever may be their opinion 
of the original abolition party, which still pre- 
serves its distinctive organization, hardly ever 
fail, when it comes to acting, to cooperate in 
carrying out their measures. With the in- 
crease of their influence, they extended the 
sphere of their action. In a short time after 
the commencement of their first movement, 
they had acquired sufficient influence to induce 
the Legislatures of most of the Northern 
States to pass acts, which in effect abrogated 
the clause of the Constitution that provides 
for the delivery up of fugitive slaves. Not 
long after, petitions followed to abolish slavery 
in forts, magazines, and dockyards, and all 
other places where Congress had exclusive 
power of legislation. This was followed by 
petitions and resolutions of Legislatures of the 
Northern States, qnd popular meetings, to ex- 
clude the Southern States from all territories 
acquired, or to be acquired, and to prevent the 
admission of any State hereafter into the 
Union which, by its Constitution, does not pro- 
hibit slavery. And Congress is invoked to do 
all this, expressly with the view to the final 
abolition of slavery in the States. That has 
been avowed to be the ultimate object from the 
beginning of the agitation until the present 
time, and yet the great body of both parties of 
the North, with the full knowledge of the fact, 
although disavowing the abolitionists, have 



l86 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

coonerated with them in almost all their meas- 
ures. 

"Such is a brief history of the agitation, as 
far as it has yet advanced. Now, I ask, Sena- 
tors, what is there to prevent its further prog- 
ress until it fulfils the ultimate end proposed, 
unless some decisive measure should be 
adopted to prevent it? Has any one of the 
causes which has added to its increase from its 
original small and contemptible beginning 
until it has attained its present magnitude 
diminished in force? Is the original cause of 
the movement — that slavery is a sin, and ought 
to be suppressed — weaker now than at the 
commencement ? Or is the abolition party less 
numerous or influential, or have they less in- 
fluence with, or control over, the two great 
parties of the North in elections? Or has the 
South greater means of influencing or con- 
trolling the movements of this government 
now than it had when the agitation com- 
menced ? To all these questions but one answer 
can be given — no ; no ; no. The very reverse 
is true. Instead of being weaker, all the ele- 
ments in favor of agitation are stronger now 
than they were in 1835, when it first com- 
menced, while all the elements of influence on 
the part of the South are weaker. Unless 
something decisive is done, I again ask, what 
is to stop this agitation before the great and 
final object at which it aims — the abolition of 
slavery in the States — is consummated? Is it, 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 187 

then, not certain that if something is not done 
to arrest it, the South will be forced to choose 
between abolition and secession? Indeed, as 
events are now moving, it will not require the 
South to secede, in order to dissolve the Union. 
Agitation will of itself effect it, of which its 
past history furnishes abundant proof, as I 
shall next proceed to show. 

"It is a great mistake to suppose that dis- 
union can be effected by a single blow. The 
cords which bound these States together in one 
common Union are far too numerous and 
powerful for that. Disunion must be the work 
of time. It is only through a long process, and 
successively, that the cords can be snapped, 
until the whole fabric falls asunder. Already 
the agitation of the slavery question has 
snapped some of the most important, and has 
greatly weakened all the others, as I shall pro- 
ceed to show. 

'The cords that bind the States together are 
not only many, but various in character. Some 
are spiritual or ecclesiastical; some political; 
others social. Some appertain to the benefit 
conferred by the Union, and others to the feel- 
ing of duty and obligation. 

'The strongest of those of a spiritual and 
ecclesiastical nature consisted in the unity of 
the great religious denominations, all of which 
originally embraced the whole Union. All 
these denominations, with the exception, per- 
haps, of the Catholics, were organized verv 



1 88 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

much upon the principle of our political insti- 
tutions. Beginning" with smaller meetings, 
corresponding with the political divisions of 
the country, their organization terminated in 
one great central assemblage, corresponding 
very much with the character of Congress. 
At these meetings the principal clergymen and 
lay members of the respective denominations, 
from all parts of the Union, met to transact 
business relating to their common concerns. 
It was not confined to what appertained to the 
doctrines and discipline of the respective de- 
nominations, but extended to plans for dissemi- 
nating ' the Bible — establishing missions, dis- 
tributing tracts — and of establishing presses 
for the publication of tracts, newspapers, and 
periodicals, with a view of diffusing religious 
information, and for the support of their re- 
spective doctrines and creeds. All this com- 
bined contributed greatly to strengthen the 
bonds of the Union. The ties which held each 
denomination together formed a strong cord 
to hold the whole Union together; but, power- 
ful as they were, they have not been able to 
resist the explosive effect of slavery agitation. 
'The first of these cords which snapped, 
under its explosive force, was that of the 
powerful Methodist Episcopal Church. The 
numerous and strong ties which held it to- 
gether are all broken, and its unity gone. They 
now form separate churches, and, instead of 
that feeling of attachment and devotion to the 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 189 

interests of the whole church which was for- 
merly felt, they are now arrayed into two 
hostile bodies, engaged in litigation about what 
was formerly their common property. 

"The next cord that snapped was that of the 
Baptists, one of the largest and most respect- 
able of the denominations. That of the Pres- 
byterians is not entirely snapped, but some of 
its strands have given way. That of the Epis- 
copal Church is the only one of the four great 
Protestant denominations which remains un- 
broken and entire. 

"The strongest cord, of a political character, 
consists of the many and powerful ties that 
have held together the two great parties which 
have, with some modifications, existed from 
the beginning of the government. They both 
extended to every portion of the Union, and 
strongly contributed to hold all its parts to- 
gether. But this powerful cord has fared no 
better than the spiritual. It resisted, for a long 
time, the explosive tendency of the agitation, 
but has finally snapped under its force — if not 
entirely, in a great measure. Nor is there one 
of the remaining cords which has not been 
greatly weakened. To this extent the Union 
has already been destroyed by agitation, in the 
only way it can be, by sundering and weaken- 
ing the cords which bind it together. 

"If the agitation goes on, the same force, 
acting with increased intensity, as has been 



190 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

shown, will finally snap every cord, when 
nothing will be left to hold the States together 
except force. But, surely, that can with no 
propriety of language be called a Union when 
the only means by which the weaker is held 
connected with the stronger portion is force. 
It may, indeed, keep them connected ; but the 
connection will partake much more of the char- 
acter of subjugation, on the part of the weaker 
to the stronger, than the union of free, inde- 
pendent, and sovereign States, in one confed- 
eration, as they stood in the early stages of 
the government, and which only is worthy of 
the sacred name of Union. 

"Having now, Senators, explained what it 
is that endangers the Union, and traced it to 
its cause, and explained its nature and charac- 
ter, the question again recurs — How can the 
Union be saved? To this I answer, there is 
but one way by which it can be, and that is by 
adontino; such measures as will satisfv the 
States belonging to the Southern section, that 
they can remain in the Union consistently with 
their honor and their safety. There is, again, 
only one way by which this can be effected, 
and that is by removing the causes by which 
mis belief has been produced. Do this, and 
discontent will cease, harmony and kind feel- 
ings between the sections be restored, and 
every apprehension of danger to the Union re- 
moved. The question, then, is — How can this 
be done? But before I undertake to answer 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. igi 

this question, I propose to show by what the 
Union cannot be saved. 

"It cannot, then, be saved by eulogies on the 
Union, however splendid or numerous. The 
cry of 'Union, Union — the glorious Union !' 
can no more prevent disunion than the cry of 
'Health, health — glorious health !' on the part 
of the physician can save a patient lying dan- 
gerously ill. So long as the Union, instead of 
being regarded as a protector, is regarded in 
the opposite character, by not much less than 
a majority of the States, it will be in vain to 
attempt to conciliate them by pronouncing 
eulogies on it. 

"Besides, this cry of Union comes com- 
monly from those whom we cannot believe to 
be sincere. It usually comes from our assail- 
ants. But we cannot believe them to be sin- 
cere, for if they loved the Union they would 
necessarily be devoted to the Constitution. It 
made the Union, and to destroy the Constitu- 
tion would be to destroy the Union. But the 
only reliable and certain evidence of devotion 
to the Constitution is to abstain, on the one 
hand, from violating it, and to repel, on the 
other, all attempts to violate it. It is only by 
faithfully performing these high duties that 
the Constitution can be preserved, and with it 
the Union. 

"But how stands the profession of devotion 
to the Union by our assailants, when brought 
to this test? Have they abstained from vio- 



192 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

lating the Constitution ? Let the many acts 
passed by the Northern States to set aside and 
annul the clause of the Constitution providing 
for the delivery up of fugitive slaves answer. 
I cite this, not that it is the only instance (for 
there are many others), but because the vio- 
lation in this particular is too notorious and 
palpable to be denied. Again, have they stood 
forth faithfully to repel violations of the Con- 
stitution? Let their course in reference to the 
agitation of the slavery question, which was 
commenced and has been carried on for fifteen 
years, avowedly for the purpose of abolishing 
slavery in the States — an object all acknowl- 
edged to be unconstitutional — answer. Let 
them show a single instance, during this long 
period, in which they have denounced the agi- 
tators or their attempts to effect what is ad- 
mitted to be unconstitutional, or a single meas- 
ure which they have brought forward for that 
purpose. How can we, with all these facts 
before us, believe that they are sincere in their 
profession of devotion to the Union, or avoid 
believing their profession is but intended to 
increase the vigor of their assaults and to 
weaken the force of our resistance? 

"Nor can we regard the profession of de- 
votion to the Union, on the part of those who 
are not our assailants, as sincere, when they 
pronounce eulogies upon the Union, evidently 
with the intent of charging us with disunion, 
without uttering one word of denunciation 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 193 

against our assailants. If friends of the 
Union, their course should be to unite with us 
in repelling these assaults, and denouncing the 
authors as enemies of the Union. Why they 
avoid this, and pursue the course they do. it is 
for them to explain. 

"Nor can the Union be saved by invoking 
the name of the illustrious Southerner whose 
mortal remains repose on the western bank of 
the Potomac. He was one of us — a slave- 
holder and a planter. We have studied his 
history, and find nothing in it to justify sub- 
mission to wrong. On the contrary, his great 
fame rests on the solid foundation that, while 
he was careful to avoid doing wrong to others, 
he was prompt and decided in repelling wrong. 
I trust that, in this respect, we profited by his 
example. 

"Nor can we find anything in his history 
to deter us from seceding from the Union, 
should it fail to fulfil the objects for which it 
was instituted, by being permanently and hope- 
lessly converted into a means of oppressing 
instead of protecting us. On the contrary, we 
find much in his example to encourage us, 
should we be forced to the extremity of de- 
ciding between submission and disunion. 

"There existed then, as well as now, a union 

— that between the parent country and her then 

colonies. It was a union that had much to 

endear it to the people of the colonies. Under 

its protecting and superintending care the 
13 



194 THE LIFE CF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

colonies were planted, and grew up and pros- 
pered, through a long course of years, until 
they became populous and wealthy. Its bene- 
fits were not limited to them. Their extensive 
agricultural and other productions gave birth 
to a flourishing commerce, which richly re- 
warded the parent country for the trouble and 
expense of establishing and protecting them. 
Washington was born and grew up to man- 
hood under that union. He acquired his early 
distinction in its service, and there is every rea- 
son to believe that he was devotedlv attached 
to it. But his devotion was a rational one. 
He was attached to it, not as an end, but as a 
means to an end. When it failed to fulfil its 
end and, instead of affording protection, was 
converted into the means of oppressing the 
colonies, he did not hesitate to draw his sword 
and head the great movement by which that 
union was forever severed, and the indepen- 
dence of these States established. This was 
the great and crowning glory of his life, which 
has spread his fame over the whole globe, and 
will transmit it to the latest posterity. 

"Nor can the plan proposed by the distin- 
guished Senator from Kentucky, nor that of 
the administration, save the Union. I shall 
pass by, without remark, the plan proposed by 
the Senator and proceed directly to the con- 
sideration of that of the administration. I, 
however, assure the distinguished and able 
Senator that, in taking this course, no (lis- 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 195 

respect whatever is intended to him or his plan. 
I have adopted it because so many Senators 
of distinguished abilities, who were present 
when he delivered his speech, and explained his 
plan, and who were fully capable to do justice 
to the side they support, have replied to him. 
'The plan of the administration cannot save 
the Union, because it can have no effect what- 
ever towards satisfying the States composing 
the Southern section of the Union that they 
can, consistently with safety and honor, remain 
in the Union. It is, in fact, but a modification 
of the Wilmot Proviso. It proposes to effect 
the same object — to exclude the South from 
all territory acquired by the Mexican treaty. 
It is well known that the South is united 
against the Wilmot Proviso, and has com- 
mitted itself, by solemn resolutions, to resist, 
should it be adopted. Its opposition is not to 
the name, but that which it proposes to effect. 
That, the Southern States hold to be uncon- 
stitutional, unjust, inconsistent with their 
equality as members of the common Union, 
and calculated to destroy irretrievably the 
equilibrium between the two sections. These 
objections equally apply to what, for brevity, 
I will call the Executive Proviso. There is no 
difference between it and the Wilmot, except 
in the mode of effecting the object, and in that 
respect I must say that the latter is much the 
least objectionable. It goes to its object, 
openly, boldly, distinctly. It claims for Con- 



I96 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

gress unlimited power over the Territories, 
and proposes to assert it over the Territories 
acquired from Mexico, by a positive prohibi- 
tion of slavery. Not so the Executive Proviso. 
It takes an indirect course, and in order to 
elude the Wilmot Proviso, and thereby avoid 
encountering the united and determined resist- 
ance of the South, it denies, by implication, the 
authority of Congress to legislate for the Ter- 
ritories, and claims the right as belonging ex- 
clusively to the inhabitants of the Territories. 
But to effect the object of excluding the South, 
it takes care, in the meantime, to let in emi- 
grants freely from the Northern States and all 
other quarters, except from the South, which 
it takes special care to exclude by holding up 
to them the danger of having their slaves lib- 
erated under the Mexican laws. The necessary 
consequence is to exclude the South from the 
territory, just as effectually as would the Wil- 
mot Proviso. The only difference in this re- 
spect is that what one proposes to effect di- 
rectly and openly the other proposes to effect 
indirectly and covertly. 

"But the Executive Proviso is more objec- 
tionable than the Wilmot in another and more 
important particular. The latter, to effect its 
object, inflicts a dangerous wound upon the 
Constitution, by depriving the Southern 
States, as joint partners and owners of the 
Territories, of their rights in them; but it in- 
flicts no greater wound than is absolutely 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 197 

necessary to effect its object. The former, on 
the contrary, while it inflicts the same wound, 
inflicts others equally great, and, if possible, 
greater, as I shall next proceed to explain. 

"In claiming the right for the inhabitants, 
instead of Congress, to legislate for the Terri- 
tories, the Executive Proviso assumes that the 
sovereignty over the Territories is vested in 
the former; or, to express it in the language 
used in a resolution offered by one of the Sena- 
tors from Texas (General Houston, now ab- 
sent), they have 'the same inherent right of 
self-government as the people in the States.' 
The assumption is utterly unfounded, uncon- 
stitutional, without example, and contrary to 
the entire practice of the government from its 
commencement to the present time, as I shall 
proceed to show. 

"The recent movement of individuals in 
California to form a Constitution and a State 
government, and to appoint Senators and Rep- 
resentatives, is the first fruit of this monstrous 
assumption. If the individuals who made this 
movement had gone into California as adven- 
turers, and if, as such, they had conquered the 
Territory and established their independence, 
the sovereignty of the country would have been 
vested in them, as a separate and independent 
community. In that case, they would have had 
the right to form a Constitution, and to es- 
tablish a government for themselves ; and if, 
afterwards, they thought proper to apply to 



I98 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

Congress for admission into the Union as a 
sovereign and independent State, all this would 
have been regular and according to established 
principles. But such is not the case. It was 
the United States who conquered California 
and finally acquired it by treaty. The sov- 
ereignty, of course, is vested in them, and not 
in the individuals who have attempted to form 
a Constitution and a State without their con- 
sent. All this is clear, beyond controversy, un- 
less it can be shown that they have since lost 
or been divested of their sovereipritv. 

"Nor is it less clear that the power of legis- 
lating over the acquired territory is vested in 
Congress, and not, as is assumed, in the in- 
habitants of the Territories. None can deny 
that the government of the United States has 
the power to acquire Territories, either by war 
or treaty ; but if the power to acquire exists, 
it belongs to Congress to carry it into execu- 
tion. On this point there can be no doubt, for 
the Constitution expressly provides that Con- 
gress shall have power 'to make all laws which 
shall be necessary and proper to carry into exe- 
cution the foregoing powers' (those vested in 
Congress), 'and all other powers vested by 
this Constitution in the government of the 
United States, or in any department or officer 
thereof.' It matters not, then, where the power 
is vested, for, if vested at all in the govern- 
ment of the United States, or any of its depart- 
ments, or officers, the power of carrying it 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 199 

into execution is clearly vested in Congress. 
But this important provision, while it gives to 
Congress the power of legislating over Terri- 
tories, imposes important limitations on its 
exercise, by restricting Congress to passing 
laws necessary and proper for carrying the 
power into execution. The prohibition ex- 
tends not only to all laws not suitable or appro- 
priate to the object of the power, but also to all 
that are unjust, unequal, or unfair — for all 
such laws would be unnecessary and improper, 
and, therefore, unconstitutional. 

''Having now established beyond contro- 
versy that the sovereignty over the Territories 
is vested in the United States — that is, in the 
several States composing the Union — and that 
the power of legislating over them is expressly 
vested in Congress, it follow r s that the indi- 
viduals in California who have undertaken to 
form a Constitution and a State, and to exer- 
cise the power of legislating without the con- 
sent of Congress, have usurped the sovereignty 
of the State and the authority of Congress, and 
have acted in open defiance of both. In other 
words, what they have done is revolutionary 
and rebellious in its character, anarchical in its 
tendency, and calculated to lead to the most 
dangerous consequences. Had they acted from 
premeditation and design, it would have been, 
in fact, actual rebellion ; but such is not the 
case. The blame lies much less upon them 
than upon those who have induced them to take 



200 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

a course so unconstitutional and dangerous. 
They have been lead into it by language held 
here, and the course pursued by the executive 
branch of the government. 

"I have not seen the answer of the Executive 
to the calls made by the two Houses of Con- 
gress for information as to the course which 
it took, or the part which it acted, in reference 
to what was done in California. I understand 
the answers have not yet been printed. But 
there is enough known to justify the assertion 
that those who profess to represent and act 
under the authority of the Executive have ad- 
vised, aided, and encouraged the movement 
which terminated in forming what they call a 
Constitution and a State. General Riley, who 
professed to act as Civil Governor, called the 
convention, determined on the number and 
distribution of the delegates, appointed the 
time and place of its meeting, was present 
during the session, and gave its proceedings 
his approbation and sanction. If he acted 
without authority, he ought to have been tried, 
or at least reprimanded, and his course dis- 
avowed. Neither having been done, the pre- 
sumption is that his course has been approved. 
This, of itself, is sufficient to identify the Ex- 
ecutive with his acts, and to make it responsible 
for them. I touch not the question whether 
General Riley was appointed or received the 
instructions under which he professed to act 
from the present Executive or its predecessor. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 201 

If from the former, it would implicate the pre- 
ceding", as well as the present administration. 
If not, the responsibility rests exclusively on 
the present. 

"It is manifest from this statement that the 
Executive Department has undertaken to per- 
form acts preparatory to the meeting of the 
individuals to form their so-called Constitution 
and government, which appertain exclusively 
to Congress. Indeed, they are identical in 
many respects with the provisions adopted by 
Congress when it gives permission to a Ter- 
ritory to form a Constitution and government, 
in order to be admitted as a State into the 
Union. 

"Having now shown that the assumption 
upon which the Executive, and the individuals 
in California, acted throughout this whole af- 
fair is unfounded, unconstitutional, and dan- 
gerous, it remains to make a few remarks, in 
order to show that what has been done is con- 
trary to the entire practice of the government 
from the commencement to the present time. 

"From its commencement until the time that 
Michigan was admitted, the practice was uni- 
form. Territorial governments were first or- 
ganized by Congress. The government of the 
United States appointed the governors, judges, 
secretaries, marshals, and other officers, and 
the inhabitants of the Territory were repre- 
sented by legislative bodies, whose acts were 
subject to the revision of Congress. This state 



202 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

of things continued until the government of a 
Territory applied to Congress to permit its 
inhabitants to form a Constitution and govern- 
ment, preparatory to admission into the Union. 
The act preliminary to giving permission was 
to ascertain whether the inhabitants were suf- 
ficiently numerous to authorize them to be 
formed into a State. This was done by taking 
a census. That being done, and the number 
proving sufficient, permission was granted. 
The act granting it fixed all the preliminaries 
— the time and place of holding the convention, 
the qualification of the voters, establishment of 
its boundaries, and all other measures neces- 
sary, to be settled previous to admission. The 
act giving permission necessarily withdraws 
the sovereignty of the United States, and 
leaves the inhabitants of the incipient State as 
free to form their Constitution and govern- 
ment as were the original States of the Union 
after they had declared their independence. 
At this stage the inhabitants of the Territory 
became, for the first time, a people, in legal 
and Constitutional language. Prior to this 
they were, by the old Acts of Congress, called 
inhabitants, and not people. All this is per- 
fectly consistent with the sovereignty of the 
United States, with the powers of Congress, 
and with the right of a people to self-govern- 
ment. 

"Michigan was the first case in which there 
was any departure from the uniform rule of 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 203 

acting. Hers was a very slight departure from 
established usage. The ordinance of 1787 
secured to her the right of becoming a State 
when she should have 60,000 inhabitants. 
Owing to some neglect, Congress delayed 
taking the census. In the meantime her popu- 
lation increased, until it clearly exceeded more 
than twice the number which entitled her to 
admission. At this stage, she formed a Con- 
stitution and government, without a census 
being taken by the United States, and Con- 
gress waived the omission, as there was no 
doubt she had more than a sufficient number 
to entitle her to admission. She was not ad- 
mitted at the first session she applied, owing 
to some difficulty respecting the boundary be- 
tween her and Ohio. The great irregularity 
as to her admission took place at the next 
session, but on a point which can have no 
possible connection with the case of California. 
"The irregularities in all other cases that 
have since occurred are of a similar nature. 
In all there existed territorial governments 
established by Congress, with officers ap- 
pointed by the United States. In all the terri- 
torial government took the lead in calling con- 
ventions, and fixing the preliminaries prepara- 
tory to the formation of a Constitution and ad- 
mission into the Union. They all recognized 
the sovereignty of the United States, and the 
authority of Congress over the Territories ; 
and wherever there was any departure from 



204 THE LIFE CF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

established usage, it was clone on the presumed 
consent of Congress, and not in defiance of its 
authority, or the sovereignty of the United 
States over the Territories. In this respect 
California stands alone, without usage or a 
single example to cover her case. 

"It belongs now, Senators, to you to decide 
what part you will act in reference to this un- 
precedented transaction. The Executive has 
laid the paper purporting to be the Constitution 
of California before you, and asks you to admit 
her into the Union as a State; and the ques- 
tion is, will you or will you not admit her? 
It is a grave question, and there rests upon you 
a heavy responsibility. Much, very much, will 
depend upon your decision. If you admit her, 
you indorse and give your sanction to all that 
has been done. Are you prepared to do so? 
Are you prepared to surrender your power of 
legislation for the Territories — a power ex- 
pressly vested in Congress by the Constitution, 
as has been fully established? Can you, con- 
sistently with your oath to support the Con- 
stitution, surrender the power? Are you pre- 
pared to admit that the inhabitants of the Ter- 
ritories possess the sovereignty over them, and 
that any number, more or less, may claim any 
extent of the Territory they please ; may form a 
Constitution and government, and erect it into 
a State, without asking your permission? Are 
you prepared to surrender the sovereignty of 
the United States over whatever territory may 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 205 

be hereafter acquired to the first adventurers 
who may rush into it? Are you prepared to 
surrender virtually to the Executive Depart- 
ment all the powers w T hich you have heretofore 
exercised over the Territories? If not, how 
can you, consistently with your duty and your 
oaths to support the Constitution, give your 
assent to the admission of California as a 
State, under a pretended Constitution and gov- 
ernment? Again, can you believe that the 
project of a Constitution which they have 
adopted has the least validity ? Can you believe 
that there is such a State in reality as the State 
of California ? No ; there is no such State. It 
has no legal or Constitutional existence. It 
has no validity, and can have none without 
your sanction. How, then, can you admit it 
as a State when, according to the provisions 
of the Constitution, your power is limited to 
admitting new States? To be admitted, it 
must be a State, and an existing State, inde- 
pendent of your sanction, before you can admit 
it. When you give your permission to the in- 
habitants of a Territory to form a Constitution 
and a State, the Constitution and State they 
form derive their authority from the people, 
and not from you. The State, before it is ad- 
mitted, is actually a State, and does not become 
so by the act of admission, as would be the 
case with California should you admit her con- 
trary to the Constitutional provisions and 
established usage heretofore. 



206 THE LIFE CF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

'The Senators on the other side of the 
chamber must permit me to make a few re- 
marks in this connection particularly appli- 
cable to them — with the exception of a few 
Senators from the South, sitting on the other 
side of the chamber. When the Oregon ques- 
tion was before this body, not two years since, 
you took (if I mistake not) universally the 
ground that Congress had the sole and abso- 
lute power of legislating for the Territories. 
How, then, can you now. after the short in- 
terval which has elapsed, abandon the ground 
which you took, and thereby virtually admit 
that the power of legislating, instead of being 
in Congress, is in the inhabitants of the Ter- 
ritories? How can you justify and sanction 
by your votes the acts of the Executive which 
are in direct derogation of what you then con- 
tended for? But to approach still nearer to 
the present time, how can you, after con- 
demning, little more than a year since, the 
grounds taken by the party which you de- 
feated at the last election, wheel round and 
support by your votes the grounds which, as 
explained recently on this floor by the candi- 
date of the party in the last election, are iden- 
tical with those on which the Executive has 
acted in reference to California? What are 
we to understand by all this? Must we con- 
clude that there is no sincerity, no faith, in the 
acts and declarations of public men, and that 
all is mere acting or hollow profession? Or 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 207 

are we to conclude that the exclusion of the 
South from the territory acquired from Mexico 
is an object of so paramount a character in 
your estimation that right, justice, Constitu- 
tion, and consistency must all yield when they 
stand in the way of our exclusion? 

"But, it may be asked, what is to be clone 
with California, should she not be admitted? 
I answer, remand her back to the territorial 
condition, as was done in the case of Ten- 
nessee, in the early stage of the government. 
Congress, in her case, had established a terri- 
torial government in the usual form, with a 
governor, judges, and other officers, appointed 
by the United States. She was entitled, under 
the deed of cession, to be admitted into the 
Union as a State as soon as she had 60,000 in- 
habitants. The territorial government, believ- 
ing it had that number, took a census, by which 
it appeared it exceeded it. She then formed a 
Constitution, and applied for admission. Con- 
gress refused to admit her, on the ground that 
the census should be taken by the United 
States, and that Congress had not determined 
whether the Territory should be formed into 
one or two States, as it was authorized to do 
under the cession. She returned quietly to her 
territorial condition. An act was passed to 
take a census by the United States, containing 
a provision that the Territory should form one 
State. All afterwards was regularly con- 
ducted, and the Territory admitted as a State 



208 THE LIFE CF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

in due form. The irregularities in the case of 
California are immeasurably greater, and offer 
much stronger reasons for pursuing the same 
course. But, it may be said, California may 
not submit. That is not probable; but if she 
should not, when she refuses it will then be 
time for us to decide what is to be done. 

"Having now shown what cannot save the 
Union, I return to the question with which I 
commenced — How can the Union be saved ? 
There is but one way by which it can with any 
certainty, and that is by a full and final settle- 
ment, on the principle of justice, of all the 
questions at issue between the two sections. 
The South asks for justice, simple justice, and 
less she ought not to take. She has no com- 
promise to offer but the Constitution, and no 
concession or surrender to make. She has 
already surrendered so much that she has little 
left to surrender. Such a settlement would go 
to the root of the evil, and remove all cause of 
discontent; by satisfying the South, she could 
remain honorably and safely in the Union, and 
thereby restore the harmony and fraternal 
feelings between the sections which existed 
anterior to the Missouri agitation. Nothing 
else can, with any certainty, finally and forever 
settle the questions at issue, terminate agita- 
tion, and save the Union. 

"But can this be done? Yes, easily; not by 
the weaker party, for it can of itself do nothing 
— not even protect itself — but by the stronger. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 209 

The North has only to will it to accomplish 
it — to do justice by conceding to the South 
an equal right in the. acquired territory, and to 
do her duty by causing the stipulations relative 
to fugitive slaves to be faithfully fulfilled, to 
cease the agitation of the slave question, and 
to provide for the insertion of a provision in 
the Constitution, by an amendment, which will 
restore to the South, in substance, the power 
she possessed of protecting herself before the 
equilibrium between the sections was destroyed 
by the action of the government. There will 
be no difficulty in devising such a provision — 
one that will protect the South and which, at 
the same time, will improve and strengthen the 
government, instead of impairing and weaken- 
ing it. 

"But will the North agree to this? It is for 
her to answer the question. But, I will say, 
she cannot refuse if she has half the love of 
the Union which she professes to have, or 
without justly exposing herself to the charge 
that her love of power and aggrandizement is 
far greater than her love of the Union. At 
all events, the responsibility of saving the 
Union rests on the North, and not on the 
South. The South cannot save it by any act 
of hers, and the North may save it without any 
sacrifice whatever, unless to do justice, and to 
perform her duties under the Constitution, 
should be regarded by her as a sacrifice. 

"It is time, Senators, that there should be 
14 



210 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

an open and manly avowal on all sides as to 
what is intended to be done. If the question is 
not now settled, it is uncertain whether it ever 
can hereafter be ; and we, as the representatives 
of the States of this Union, regarded as gov- 
ernments, should come to a distinct under- 
standing as to our respective views, in order 
to ascertain whether the great questions at 
issue can be settled or not. If you who repre- 
sent the stronger portion cannot agree to settle 
them on the broad principle of justice and 
duty, say so ; and let the States we both repre- 
sent agree to separate and part in peace. If 
you are unwilling we should part in peace, tell 
us so, and we shall know what to do when you 
reduce the question to submission or resistance. 
If you remain silent, you will compel us to 
infer by your acts what you intend. In that 
case, California will become the test question. 
If you admit her, under all the difficulties that 
oppose her admission, you compel us to infer 
that you intend to exclude us from the whole 
of the acquired territories, with the intention 
of destroying irretrievably the equilibrium be- 
tween the two sections. We would be blind 
not to perceive in that case that your real ob- 
jects are power and aggrandizement, and 
infatuated not to act accordingly. 

"I have now, Senators, done my duty in 
expressing my opinions fully, freely, and can- 
didly on this solemn occasion. In doing so, I 
have been governed by the motives which have 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 211 

governed me in all the stages of the agitation 
of the slavery question since its commencement. 
I have exerted myself, during the whole period, 
to arrest it, with the intention of saving the 
Union, if it could he done, and if it could not, 
to save the section where it has pleased Provi- 
dence to cast my lot, and which I sincerely be- 
lieve has justice and the Constitution on its 
side. Having faithfully done my duty to the 
best of my ability, both to the Union and my 
section, throughout this agitation, I shall have 
die consolation, let what will come, that I am 
free from all responsibility." 

The next day Mr. Calhoun became involved 
in a colloquy with Senate Foote, of Mississippi, 
which has the effect, in the light of after 
events, of bringing into high relief the no less 
than pitiful inadequacy of the views of that 
Senator. Beside Calhoun, death-stricken 
though he was, the words of the other are as 
the babbling of a little child. 

It is said that one of Mr. Calhoun's last ut- 
terances expressed a fervent wish for "one 
hour more to speak in the Senate, when I can 
do more good than on any past occasion in 
my life." This is doubtless true. His speech 
was intended merely to break the ground, as 
the opening of a carefully laid out campaign. 
It was never even developed what the amend- 
ment to the Constitution was to which he 
referred, and which he purposed to advo- 
cate. Probably it was the dual Executive. 



212 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

which he discusses in the "Treatise on 
the Constitution." Had such a provision 
been adopted, and Calhoun and Webster 
spared to serve the republic as consuls, 
how differently had flowed the current of 
events ! If Mr. Calhoun himself had but lived 
a little longer, it seems highly probable that 
history would have been different. He would 
certainly have forced matters to a head at this 
session, and at this time, had the South taken 
definite action, it seems probable that there was 
still left genuine love enough for the Union on 
all sides to save it. To delay ten years was 
necessarily fatal. Every moment lost but 
added fresh fuel to the kindling flame of sec- 
tional hatred. Mr. Calhoun's death was a 
stunning blow. The South fell into confusion. 
Delay resulted, and natural causes, taking their 
course, produced their natural results. 



CHAPTER XII. 

"The Rest is Silence." 

"But, sir, I propose to say something of him 
in his last days. Early in the winter of 
1848-49, his failing health gave uneasiness to 
his friends. A severe attack of bronchitis, 
complicated with an affection of the heart, dis- 
qualified him for the performance of his sena- 
torial duties with the punctuality which always 
distinguished him. It was then that I became 
intimately acquainted with his mind and, above 
all, with his heart. Watching by his bedside, 
and during his recovery, I ceased to be aston- 
ished at the power which his master-mind and 
elevated moral feelings had always exerted 
upon those who were included within the circle 
of his social intercourse. It was tribute paid 
spontaneously to wisdom, genius, truth. Pa- 
triotism, honesty of purpose, and purity of 
motive, rendered active by the energies of such 
an intellect as hardly ever falls to any man, 
gathered around him sincere admirers and de- 
voted friends. That many have failed to ap- 
preciate the value of the great truths which 
he uttered, or to listen to the warnings which 
he gave, is nothing new in the history of great 
minds. Bacon wrote for posterity, and men of 



214 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

profound sagacity always think in advance of 
their generation. His body was sinking under 
the invasion of disease before I formed his 
acquaintance, and he was passing from among 
us before I was honored with his friendship. 
I witnessed with astonishment the influence of 
his mighty mind over his weak physical struc- 
ture. Like a powerful steam engine on a frail 
bark, every revolution of the wheel tried its 
capacity for endurance to the utmost. But yet 
his mind moved on, and, as if insensible to the 
decay of bodily strength, put forth, without 
stint, his unequaled powers of thought and 
analysis until nature well-nigh sunk under the 
imposition. His intellect preserved its vigor 
while his body was sinking to decay. The 
menstruum retained its powers of solution 
while the frail crucible which contained it was 
crumbling to atoms. During his late illness, 
which, with a short intermission, has continued 
since the commencement of this session of 
Congress, there was no abatement of his intel- 
lectual-labors. They were directed as well to 
the momentous questions now agitating the 
public mind as to the completion of a work 
which embodies his thoughts on the subject 
of government in general and our own Consti- 
tution in particular, thus distinguishing his last 
days by the greatest effort of his mind, and 
bequeathing it as his richest legacy to posterity. 
"Cheerful in a sick chamber, none of the 
gloom which usually attends the progress of 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 215 

disease annoyed him. Severe in ascertaining 
the truth of conclusions, because unwilling to 
be deceived himself, he scorned to deceive 
others; skilful in appreciating the past, and im- 
partial in his judgment of the present, he 
looked to the future as dependent on existing 
causes, and fearlessly gave utterance to his 
opinions of its nature and character. The phil- 
osopher and the statesman, he discarded ex- 
pedients by which men 'construe the times to 
their necessities.' He loved the truth for the 
truth's sake, and believed that to temporize is 
but to increase the evil which we seek to re- 
move. The approach of death brought no in- 
dication of impatience — no cloud upon his in- 
tellect. To a friend who spoke of the time and 
manner in which it is best to meet death he re- 
marked : T have but little concern about either ; 
I desire to die in the discharge of my duty; I 
have an unshaken reliance upon the providence 
of God.' 

4 T saw him four days after his last appear- 
ance in the Senate Chamber, gradually sinking 
under the power of his malady, without one 
murmur at his affliction, always anxious for 
the interest of his country, deeply absorbed in 
the great question which agitates the public 
mind, and earnestly desiring its honorable ad- 
justment, unchanged in the opinions which he 
had held and uttered for many years, the ar- 
dent friend of the Union and the Constitution, 
and seeking the perpetuity of our institutions 



2l6 THE LIFE CF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

by inculcating the practice of justice and the 
duties of patriotism. 

"Aggravated symptoms on the day before 
his death gave notice of his approaching end. 
I left him late at night with but faint hopes of 
amendment, and on being summoned early the 
next morning, I found him sinking in the cold 
embrace of death, calm, collected, and con- 
scious of his situation, but without any symp- 
tom of alarm, his face beaming with intelli- 
gence, without one indication of suffering or 
of pain. I watched his countenance, and the 
luster of that bright eye remained unchanged 
until the silver cord was broken, and then it 
went out in instantaneous eclipse. When I re- 
moved my hand from closing his eyes he 
seemed as one who had fallen into a sweet and 
refreshing slumber. Thus, sir, closed the days 
of John Caldwell Calhoun, the illustrious 
American statesman." 106 

This chaste and beautiful obituary was pro- 
nounced in the House of Representatives by 
Abram W. Venable, member from North Car- 
olina. Although accredited to that State, Mr. 
Venable was one of the well-known, keen- 
minded Virginia family. By reason of his 
kindly ministrations during the last hours, and 
his discriminating words of appreciation, he 
will long retain the admiration and gratitude 
of Carolinians. 

''How touching," says Carlyle, speaking of 

103 Carolina Tribute, p. 36. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 2l"J 

the death of Mirabeau, "is the loyalty of men 
to their sovereign man." At the death of Cal- 
houn, contemporary writers inform us, a sol- 
emn hush fell on all the people. Many remark 
that the effect produced was similar to that at 
the death of Washington. South Carolinians 
felt it as a direct personal loss as well as a great 
public calamity. 

Two out of a multitude of tributes may be 
selected as typifying all the rest. Coming from 
very different quarters, they contrast highly, 
but both contribute to the same result. 

Mr. Webster, possibly better than any con- 
temporary, was intellectually qualified to ap- 
preciate his great compeer. His great power of 
comprehension was apparently marked by a 
singular vein of philosophic indolence, a kind 
of laissez-faire liberality. To him, therefore, 
it is fair to infer, Calhoun seemed little less 
than a wonderful manifestation, Calhoun's 
philosophy being galvanized throughout with 
energy, in such marked contrast to the indo- 
lence of his own. It seems that Webster on 
this occasion was shaken to an unusual degree. 
He had heard that somber speech of Calhoun's 
on March 4th and had understood it. Genuine 
agitation of mind and deep concern for the 
Union was the mould in which the great 7th 
of March speech was cast. It seems strange 
how any one can fail to respond to its appeal- 
ing note of pathos, sounding in unison with the 
note given out in Calhoun's speech three days 



2l8 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

before. Webster knew that Calhoun's strength 
was needed to save the Union, and he also 
knew that Calhoun's strength was at the last 
ebb. Jefferson Davis, thirty-seven years after- 
wards, had not forgotten that Webster, in pro- 
nouncing the tribute to Calhoun's memory, was 
more moved than on any other occasion. He 
says in a letter: "Mr. Webster, who had been 
his great intellectual opponent, but, neverthe- 
less, his warm personal friend, when speaking 
on the occasion of his death, manifested deeper 
emotion than I ever knew him to exhibit on 
any other occasion. He impressively said : 
'Nothing that was selfish or impure ever came 
near the head or heart of Calhoun.' " 107 

In the Senate, April i, 1850, Mr. Webster 
said : "I hope the Senate will indulge me in 
adding a very few words to what has been said. 
My apology for this presumption is the very 
long acquaintance which has subsisted between 
Mr. Calhoun and myself. We are of the same 
age. I made my first entrance into the House 
of Representatives in May, 181 3, and there 
found Mr. Calhoun. He had already been in 
that body for two or three years. I found him 
then an active and efficient member of the as- 
sembly to which he belonged, taking a decided 
part, and exercising a decided influence in ah 
its deliberations. 

"From that day to the day of his death. 



107 A History of the Calhoun Monument. Lucas Richardson 
& Co., Charleston, S. C, 1888. p. 118. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 2IQ 

amidst all the strifes of party and politics, 
there has subsisted between us always, and 
without interruption, a great degree of per- 
sonal kindness. 

"Differing widely on many great questions 
respecting the institutions and government of 
the country, those differences never interrupted 
our personal and social intercourse. I have 
been present at most of the distinguished in- 
stances of the exhibition of his talents in de- 
bate. I have always heard him with pleasure, 
often with much instruction, not unfrequently 
with the highest degree of admiration. 

"Mr. Calhoun was calculated to be a leader 
in whatsoever association of political friends 
he was thrown. He was a man of undoubted 
genius and of commanding talent. All the 
country and the world admit that. His mind 
was both perceptive and vigorous. It was 
clear, quick, and strong. 

"Sir, the eloquence of Mr. Calhoun, or the 
manner of his exhibition of his sentiments in 
public bodies, was part of his intellectual char- 
acter. It grew out of the qualities of his mind. 
It was plain, strong, terse, condensed, concise ; 
sometimes impassioned, still always severe. 
Rejecting ornament, not often seeking far for 
illustration, his power consisted in the plain- 
ness of his propositions, m the closeness of his 
logic, and in the earnestness and energy of his 
manner. These are the qualities, as I think, 
which have enabled him, through such a long 



220 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

course of years, to speak often, and yet always 
command attention. His demeanor as a Sena- 
tor is known to us all — is appreciated, vene- 
rated, by us all. No man was more respectful 
to others; no man carried himself with greater 
decorum; no man with superior dignity. I 
think there is not one of us but felt, when he 
last addressed us from his seat in the Senate, 
his form still erect, with a voice by no means 
indicating such a degree of physical weakness 
as did in fact possess him, with clear tones and 
an impressive and, I may say, an imposing 
manner, who . did not feel that he might 
imagine that we saw before us a Senator of 
Rome when Rome survived. 

"Sir, I have not in public nor in private life 
known a more assiduous person in the dis- 
charge of his appropriate duties. I have 
known no man who wasted less of life in what 
is called recreation, or employed less of it in 
any pursuits not connected with the immediate 
discharge of his duty. He seemed to have no 
recreation but the pleasure of conversation 
with his friends. Out of the chambers of Con- 
gress, he was either devoting himself to the 
acquisition of knowledge pertaining to the im- 
mediate subject of the duty before him, or else 
he was indulging in those social interviews in 
which he so much delighted. 

"My honorable friend from Kentucky has- 
spoken in just terms of his colloquial talents. 
They certainly were singular and eminent. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 221 

There was a charm in his conversation not 
often found. He delighted especially in con- 
versation and intercourse with young men. I 
suppose that there has been no man among us 
who had more winning manners, in such an 
intercourse and conversation with men com- 
paratively young, than Mr. Calhoun. I believe 
one great power of his character, in general, 
was his conversational talent. I believe it is 
that, as well as a consciousness of his high in- 
tegrity, and the greatest reverence for his in- 
tellect and ability, that has made him so en- 
deared an object to the people of the State to 
which he belonged. 

"Mr. President, he had the basis, the indis- 
pensable basis, of all high character — and that 
was unspotted integrity, unimpeached honor 
and character. If he had aspirations, they 
were high, honorable, and noble. There was 
nothing groveling, or low, or meanly selfish, 
that came near the head or the heart of Mr. 
Calhoun. Firm in his purpose, perfectly pa- 
triotic and honest as I am sure he was, in the 
principles that he espoused and in the measures 
that he defended, aside from that large regard 
for that species of distinction that conducted 
him to eminent stations for the benefit of the 
republic, I do not believe he had a selfish mo- 
tive or selfish feeling. 

"However, sir, he may have differed from 
others of us in his political opinions, or his 
political principles, those principles and those 



222 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

opinions will now descend to posterity under 
the sanction of a great name. He has lived 
long enough, he has clone enough, and he has 
done it so well, so successfully, so honorably, 
as to connect himself for all time with the 
records of his country. He is now a historical 
character. Those of us who have known him 
here will find that he has left upon our minds 
and our hearts a strong and lasting impression 
of his person, his character, and his public per- 
formances, which, while we live, will never be 
obliterated. We shall hereafter, I am sure, 
indulge in it as a grateful recollection that we 
have lived in his age; that we have been his 
contemporaries; that we have seen him, and 
heard him, and known him. We shall delight 
to speak of him to those who are rising up to 
fill our places. And when the time shall come 
when we ourselves shall go, one after another, 
in succession, to our graves, we shall carry 
with us a deep sense of his genius and char- 
acter, his honor and integrity, his amiable de- 
portment in private life, and the purity of his 
exalted patriotism." 108 

These words wear well. The oftener pe- 
rused, the more appropriate, the more adequate 
they will be found. 

The other tribute selected is anonymous, but, 
it is deemed, not the less effective on that ac- 
count. The committee appointed as escort of 
the remains of Mr. Calhoun, among other 

108 Carolina Tribute, p. io et seq. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 223 

things, report : "As we passed a farm near 
Wilmington, N. C, the owner, an elderly man, 
stood at the roadside, uncovered, his right hand 
resting on a small pine, hung with emblems of 
mourning, with his two servants standing be- 
hind him, also uncovered. * * *" 109 

Mr. Calhoun died March 31, 1850. On 
April 2d, a meeting of citizens was called in 
Charleston to give expression to the public 
sorrow. Under one of the. resolutions adopted 
at this meeting Governor Seabrook appointed 
a committee of twenty-five to proceed to Wash- 
ington and to escort the remains to Charleston. 
Mr. Daniel Ravenel was made chairman of the 
committee, and the melancholy duties which 
fell to him in that character w r ere discharged 
with rare tact and delicacy of feeling. Mr. 
Calhoun's family generously consented that to 
Charleston should be accorded the very high 
honor to serve as the final resting place. The 
Senate appointed a committee of six from their 
number to act as an escort to South Carolina. 
With this committee the committee of twenty- 
five cooperated. Mr. Venable and Mr. Holmes, 
of South Carolina, had been appointed on be- 
half of the House of Representatives. On 
April 22 the cortege started on the journey 
southward. 'These (the several committees, 
etc. ) , in a long train of carriages, followed the 
hearse in slow procession from the steps of 
the Capitol along the south side of Capitol Hill 

109 Carolina Tribute, p. 51. 



224 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

and down the Maryland avenue, and thence to 
the wharf on the Potomac, where the steamer 
Baltimore awaited us." 110 

The passage by Mount Vernon is thus im- 
pressively narrated : "As we drew near, the 
speed of our boat was moderated. Moving 
slowly on, we paused, as it were, in silent re- 
spect. 

"Mount Vernon belongs to history. It com- 
mands the attention of every traveler. It as- 
sociates, throughout the world, the dignity of 
worth in private life with all that is rational in 
civil liberty, with all that is wise in govern- 
ment, with all that is pure in the service of 
country. To us it is sacred ground, impressing 
every mind with awe, filling every heart with 
gratitude — an unseen presence is there, and no 
unhallowed thought finds place. Every packet 
that passes tolls its bell in honor of the Father 
of his Country. On this occasion, the custo- 
mary answer of the heart was wrought into 
high emotion. We bore what was mortal of 
one illustrious man by all that is mortal of the 
great type of illustrious men. No bosom was 
unmoved ; scarcely an eye was tearless. 'Deep 
called unto deep' as the muffled knell of our 
boat paid its passing tribute." 111 

Further extracts from the report of the com- 
mittee of twenty-five are as follows: "On the 
details thus given of the honors paid to the 



110 Carolina Tribute, p. 42. 

111 Carolina Tribute, p. 43. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 225 

memory of Mr. Calhoun, it may be remarked 
that at each of the cities through which we 
passed, the ceremonies had some appropriate 
peculiarity. The simple and silent movement 
from the Capitol at Washington, where the 
eloquence of public and individual sorrow had 
so recently been heard ; the emblems of respect 
at Alexandria; the honors to our sad pro- 
cession as it moved slowly through Fredericks- 
burg, with the military and civic escort of that 
city ; the more elaborate arrangements at Rich- 
mond for the reception and charge of the re- 
mains for the night, and their redelivery the 
next day, with the kind attention to the com- 
fort of the committees; the full and imposing- 
procession through Petersburg, the church 
draped in crepe, and the informal courtesies 
of the citizens; the numerous array of private 
citizens at Wilmington, through whom the 
procession passed to the boat, all exhibited the 
common purpose in these several communities, 
with variety in the modes of manifesting their 
respect to the memory of the dead, and their 
kindness to the living." 112 

"We entered the harbor of Charleston at nine 
o'clock on Thursday morning, the 25th April. 
A fog made the city indistinct to view, until 
we had approached quite near to it, when we 
observed that the houses were hung with em- 
blems of mourning. The tone of deep feeling 
produced by the silent eloquence of these 

Vk2 Carolina Tribute, p. 50. 

15 



226 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

tokens was made deeper by the Sabbath-like 
stillness of the city. On our approaching the 
revenue cutter Crawford in the roads, she com- 
menced the firing of minute guns. The Nina 
took her in tow, and a procession of boats was 
formed, consisting of the Nina and Wilming- 
ton, the revenue cutter, and the steamers Meta- 
mora and Pilot, the two latter with citizens on 
board. These vessels, all displaying emblems 
of mourning, arranged with remarkable care 
and taste, moved slowly several times along the 
entire line of the city, from the southern point 
of the Battery to the landing place at Smith's 
wharf, until the hour appointed for the land- 
ing. This novel procession was felt by all to 
increase the deep solemnity of the occasion. 
At twelve o'clock, the body of J. C. Calhoun 
was landed on the soil of his native State, to 
receive the honors of his own sorrowing 
people." 113 

"The revenue cutter Gallatin, the steamers 
Metamora and Pilot acting as an escort, with 
colors at half mast and draped in mourning, 
lay in her wake. Profound silence reigned 
around ; no idle spectator loitered on the spot : 
the curiosity incident to the hour was merged 
into a deep feeling of respect, that evinced itself 
by being present only where that sentiment 
could with most propriety be displayed. The 
solemn minute gun, the wail of the distant bell, 
the far-ofT spires shrouded in the drapery of 

113 Carolina Tribute, p. 51. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 227 

grief, the hearse and its attendant mourners 
waiting on the spot, alone bore witness that the 
pulse of life still beat within the city, that a 
whole people in voiceless woe were about to 
receive and consign to earth all that was mortal 
of a great and good citizen." 114 

From Smith's wharf, the imposing train 
advanced, by Boundary (now Calhoun) street, 
to the Citadel Square. "No sound was heard 
but the subdued murmur of the collected 
thousands." 115 

Of the various addresses at the Citadel 
Square, the following extracts are offered : 

Governor Seabrook, among other things, 
said : "From the first day of Mr. Calhoun's 
protracted illness to the moment when death 
achieved his victory, you, Mr. Venable, were 
rarely absent from his bedside. With the 
anxious solicitude of a devoted friend, you 
ministered to his wants, and watched the reflux 
of that noble stream whose fertilizing powers 
were about to be buried in the great ocean of 
eternity. For services so disinterested, spon- 
taneously bestowed by a stranger, I offer the 
tribute of thanks, warm, from overflowing 
hearts." 116 

Mr. Venable replied, in part : "Nothing has 
so fully convinced me of the extended popu- 
larity, I should rather say, feeling of venera- 
tion, towards the statesman whose death has 

114 Carolina Tribute, p. 72. 

115 Carolina Tribute, p. 74. 

116 Carolina Tribute, p. 76. 



2JS THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

called us together today as the high estimate 
which you and your people have placed upon 
the services of an humble friend. Sir, the im- 
pulses of humanity would have demanded 
nothing less, and that man is more than re- 
warded who is permitted to soothe the pain or 
alleviate the suffering of a philosopher, sage, 
patriot, and statesman, so exalted above his 
contemporaries that were we not admonished 
by his subjection to the invasion of disease and 
death we might well doubt whether he did not 
belong to a superior race." * * * "But when, 
with this morning's dawn. I approached your 
harbor, and saw the city in the peaceful rest 
of the Sabbath, heard not the stroke of a ham- 
mer or the hum of voices engaged in the busi- 
ness of life: when, from the deck of the 
steamer, in the midst of your harbor. I could 
descry the habiliments of mourning: which con- 
secrated your houses, the stillness, the solemn 
stillness, spoke a language that went to my 
heart." 117 

The procession next moved through various 
streets of the city. "Alone; the streets through 
which the procession passed, the public and 
private buildings and temples of worship were 
draped with mourning, the windows and doors 
of the houses were closed, and no one was seen 
to gaze upon the spectacle : it seemed that those 
who did not participate directly in the obse- 
quies were mourning within. 

117 Carolina Tribute, p. 76. 

118 Carolina Tribute, p. 80. 



IIS 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 229 

The remains were finally received at the 
City Hall with all ceremony, and lay there in 
state until the next day, when they were re- 
moved to their last resting place in the western 
cemetery of St. Philip's Church. * * * 

"Such honors Ilion to her hero paid 
And peaceful slept the mighty Hector's shade." 

* * ^ ;;< * ^ 

The effort has been made to revive the spirit 
that presided over the obsequies of this illus- 
trious man, extending as they did over nearly 
a month in the passage from Washington to 
Charleston, in the hope that the appreciation of 
that spirit may be considered worth the atten- 
tion to detail which it involves. It may serve 
to illustrate, at least in some measure, "How 
touching is the loyalty of men to their sov- 



ereign man." 






CHAPTER XIII. 
His Richest Legacy to Posterity." 



The attentive reader will not have forgotten 
that in the letter of Mr. Calhoun in reference 
to his acceptance of the Secretaryship of State 
lie made mention of a project which he had in 
mind for leisure hours in the home routine to 
which at that time he looked forward. The 
home routine, as has been seen, was sadly 
broken up. In a letter written in 1847 ne savs : 
"But it seems to me the more I do, the more I 
am compelled to do, and the farther I recede 
from retirement." Of leisure also, it may 
readily be gathered, there was scant measure 
granted him. But the project, in spite of of- 
ficial duties, social engagements, burden of 
responsibilities, and ill health, was executed. 
There is much in all this to show how near this 
project was to his heart. There are not want- 
ing other side lights to illustrate the same fact. 
In the discriminating remarks above quoted, 
Mr. Yenable does not fail, in describing Mr. 
Calhoun's last days, to lay particular emphasis 
on the concern shown by him in reference to 
the completion of this work. "His richest 
legacy to posterity," are Mr. Venable's words. 
During his latter years, Mr. Calhoun con- 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 23I 

stantly refers to the progress of this work in 
his letters to his daughter, Mrs. Clemson, 
which is strong evidence of the interest he felt 
in it. The very last letter written to her, only 
a month before his death, contains the follow- 
ing passage : "Besides my correspondence, 
which, with Mr. Clemson, extends, when from 
home, to nine persons in my own family, and 
when at home, usually five or six, I have writ- 
ten between three hundred and fifty and four 
hundred pages of foolscap, in execution of the 
work I have on hand, since we parted, and have 
reviewed, corrected and had copied the ele- 
mentary disquisition on government (now 
ready for the press), containing one hundred 
and twenty-five pages of foolscap. When I 
add that I have done all this in the midst of a 
round of company, and my many other engage- 
ments, I think you will see that I have a very 
good excuse if I have not written you as fre- 
quently as formerly." 119 

The intention to prepare such a work doubt- 
less lay half expressed in Mr. Calhoun's mind 
a long time. The first reference to it which 
has been found in his correspondence occurs 
in a letter to Francis Wharton, written Christ- 
mas day, 1843: 'The conception on that side 
of the Atlantic is universally false in reference 
to our system of government. It is indeed a 
most remarkable system — the most so that ever 
existed. I have never yet discussed it in its 

119 Correspondence, p. 782. 



232 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

higher elementary principles, or rather, I ought 
to say, in reference to higher elementary prin- 
ciples of political science. If I should have 
leisure, I may yet do it." 120 Thus almost seven 
years elapsed from the first mention to the 
completion. 

It seems certain that Air. Calhoun realized 
thoroughly that what we now know has oc- 
curred would occur. Plainly he saw that the 
times immediately succeeding him would be 
clouded by passion, violence, and ignorance. 
Not until these had run their course would 
receptive ground be found for the seeds of wis- 
dom which he knew it had been given to him 
to sow. All too well he knew that, plainly, 
explicitly, unmistakably, as he had declared 
his discoveries, the record by passion and slan- 
der would be distorted past recognition. Be- 
sides, the principles as declared by him during 
his political career were more or less inter- 
mingled with the current questions and local 
issues, hence all the more apt to be confused 
and sunk from sight. Thus, the true ultimate 
issue in Nullification was connected with the 
tariff, an involved and troublesome dispute in 
itself. The popular imagination, moreover, is 
ever prone to make matters personal. Thus 
there has been a tendency, not only among the 
illiterate, to make of Nullification a mere per- 
sonal matter between Jackson and Calhoun. 
As was early remarked in these pages, it seems 

120 Correspondence, p. 558. 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 233 

strange that any historian, with the precedent 
of Nullification before him, could fail to under- 
stand the true nature of the Civil War. The 
parallelism is perfect. Tariff in the Nullifica- 
tion crisis is the exact analogue of slavery in 
the Civil War. Mr. Alexander H. Stevens has 
given a complete and perfect exposition of this 
matter, in spite of which many continue to mis- 
understand. 121 

That all this misunderstanding, all this con- 
fusion of matter universally important with 
matter strictly local and temporary would pre- 
vail for many a year was precisely the state of 
affairs to which Mr. Calhoun looked forward, 
and against which he was anxious to provide 
every corrective in his power. It is very 
striking to observe, throughout the utterances 
of his riper years, an entire consciousness on 
his part that he would neither be heeded im- 
mediately nor understood. It is almost as 
though he were constantly addressing an audi- 
ence hidden far away in the future, the hearers 
in his immediate presence being to all intents 
and purposes stone deaf. He well knew how 
truth has to fight its way. 

To provide a brief and serviceable summary 
of his discoveries and their application was the 
object he had in view. Consequently, in this 
volume is contained the distilled essence of the 
long results of a lifetime. All heterogeneous 

m War Between the States, 2 Vols., by Alexander H 
Stephens. National Publishing Co., 1868. 



234 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

matter, all complicating detail, every irrele- 
vance, all surplusage, is pruned away and 
eliminated, and the result is a handbook of 
political science, as remarkable for complete- 
ness as it is for brevity. Indeed, brevity is the 
difficulty at the same time that it is the merit of 
such a work. One who has given but indiffer- 
ent attention to these subjects is wholly unpre- 
pared to derive the full benefit of what is here 
compressed into such narrow compass. More- 
over, the minds of many, in reference to these 
topics, are in much less favorable condition 
than mere passivity; the minds of many are 
completely possessed by certain prejudices and 
misconceptions, which render the successful 
inoculation of correct ideas almost hopeless. 

There were two matters in particular which 
Mr. Calhoun was desirous of explaining so 
that no one who chose honestly to investigate 
could fail to understand. One was heretofore 
indicated in the study of Nullification. Suf- 
frage is not sufficient to guarantee liberty: not 
only is not sufficient, but with suffrage alone, 
misgovernment, tyranny, and oppression, will 
continue almost to the same extent as without 
it. In addition to suffrage, the weapon of 
nullification, check, veto, interposition, must be 
somehow placed in the hands of minorities, or 
constituent interests. This is the first point. 
To its elucidation is devoted the first part of 
the work, 'The Disquisition on Government." 

The other matter almost universally misun- 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 235 

derstood is the fact that such a provision is 
actually a feature of the American Constitu- 
tion. By an almost universal misconception 
the fact is not only overlooked, but an active 
and pernicious error usurps its place. The 
provision was incorporated in the American 
Constitution more by chance than from fore- 
thought. It arose from the fortuitous juxtapo- 
sition of separate local sovereignties. This es- 
sential feature, thus provided by chance, unless 
demonstrated with the utmost lucidity and in- 
sisted on with the utmost rigidity, is lost to 
sight, and error in this respect is wholly fatal. 
There is no halfway ground. Right under- 
standing means permanence, stability, success. 
Wrong understanding means violence, revolu- 
tion, failure. The American Constitution, 
rightly understood and construed, contains the 
necessary conservative principle ; but under the 
largely predominating view, this principle is 
worse than lost ; a conflicting, subversive prin- 
ciple is substituted in its place. To this end 
the second portion of the work is devoted, "The 
Treatise on the United States Constitution." 

Is it not plain what a great stake is here to 
be lost or won ? This it is that so aroused Caro- 
lina and Calhoun in the days of Nullification. 
This it is that Calhoun, in the years of his ripe 
wisdom, felt the world to stand in need of com- 
prehending. Here is the explanation why this 
project was so near to his heart, and why, in 
the face of all interruptions and difficulties, he 
drove it through to completion. 



236 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

To the words which a man pronounces in 
his last moments, the law, as well as the world 
at large, is accustomed to attach peculiar im- 
portance. Here is the legacy of one of the 
wisest men that ever lived, framed at a time 
when, had he been the most unprincipled ad- 
venturer, interest, prejudice, or any kindred 
motive, could have had not the least influence. 
When a man like Calhoun compresses his last 
breath into words of advice, the world will be 
the sufferer if the advice remains unheeded. 

There are not wanting other circumstances 
to lend a peculiar sanction to this work. The 
foregoing pages have been put together to 
very little purpose if it does not appear from 
the most casual inspection that Mr. Calhoun's 
career was, to an extent wholly extraordinary, 
political. His education was scarce completed 
when he was plunged into political affairs. 
America, of all the countries since the world 
began, has been preeminently the pioneer in 
political science and political experiment. 
South Carolina, of all American States, from 
taste and inclination, as well as by reason of 
isolation and unique conditions, has been the 
very hotbed of political disputation and in- 
vestigation. The period of Calhoun's life was 
a period of peculiar agitation and upheaval. 
And finally he, of all South Carolinians, by 
education and intellectual capacity, was the 
best fitted to digest the political pabulum thus 
afforded. A specialist attains to knowledge 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 2^7 

undreamt of by the general practitioner. To 
a remarkable extent circumstances conspired to 
render Mr. Calhoun a specialist in political 
science. It is no wonder, then, that he should 
have attained to knowledge entirely too ad- 
vanced for his contemporaries, entirely too ad- 
vanced for several succeeding generations. 
The general public (to recur to the allusion of 
Mr. Venable) has not yet caught up with 
Bacon (witness patent medicines), and Bacon 
wrote some time before Calhoun. 

It is remarkable how backward even the 
most cultivated and best informed foreigners 
are found to be in the knowledge of our in- 
stitutions and of political science in general. 
Jefferson remarked this long ago. It seems 
difficult, almost impossible, for them to com- 
prehend our federal system. Mr. Bryce, in ex- 
plaining the Constitution, as was before re- 
marked, hits every part of the target but the 
bull's eye. He was warm, as the children say, 
in hide and seek, for he does not fail to lay 
emphasis on the prominence in the system of 
the State governments, yet he fails to find the 
essential central truth. 

"E pure muove," said Galileo when retiring 
from the council of adverse sages. The sages 
were doubtless learned, eminent, respectable ; 
but Galileo saw, thev did not see. The inertia 
of society is immense. Moreover, quacks and 
charlatans abound. A justifiable conservatism 
thus enlists itself on the side of inertia, and the 



238 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

result is that granite mountains (thanks to 
dynamite) are less impenetrable than human 
heads. O ! for some philosophic analogue of 
dynamite! With the aid of such it were pos- 
sible, perhaps, to procure, even for new ideas, 
entrance and lodgment in their proper nidus. 

In the speech on Oregon, Mr. Calhoun leaves 
on record an eloquent appeal to the two great 
Anglo-Saxon nations. Progress in peace, com- 
merce, civilization, liberty, is the burden of that 
appeal. But of far wider application and far 
greater moment is this later appeal. It is an 
appeal not to one, nor to two nations : it is a 
precious message to all mankind. The Ameri- 
can people, in part by chance, in part by pa- 
triotic endeavor, stumbled on one of the latest 
lessons of liberty. Jefferson in part profited 
by the opportunity, forecast and hinted at the 
policies so inculcated. Madison likewise, in 
part, profited by the opportunity. But it was 
left to Calhoun to receive the fading torch, to 
replenish its flame, and cherish it to fresh, 
glowing intensity, and set it up in a high place, 
to brighten all the future generations. 

It is a grave and unusual responsibility to be 
charged with the delivery of a message to man- 
kind. Calhoun did not shirk the responsibility ; 
he appreciated it, assumed it. and, to the best 
of his ability, discharged it. 



APPENDIX A. 

"The Greatest Forensic Duel Ever 

Fought." 

It is a remarkable fact that in the course of 
the composition of this work the great passage- 
at-arms between Webster and Calhoun in the 
Senate in 1833 should have received only pass- 
ing allusion. It would seem more natural that 
an event of such importance should have ex- 
acted a complete and detailed description. If 
any explanation is to be found for the omission, 
it must lie in the fact that the controversy, 
great as it was, is small compared with the sub- 
jects and issues with which it was connected 
and entrance upon which it naturally affords. 
It is as if a traveler entered upon a countn 
before unknown through a mighty gateway 
supported by two giant pillars of heroic mold. 
But as he stood for the first time upon the 
threshold of the gateway, the prospect was sud- 
denly opened to his vision of a domain so vast, 
so startling in its majesty and grandeur, as to 
absorb his whole attention and leave the noble 
gateway for a spell entirely forgotten. 

The question immediately at issue between 
Calhoun and Webster related to a single his- 
torical occurrence — Was the Union in its 



240 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

origin a league of States ? Important, vital, 
as the question is, it pales to insignificance 
when set beside the wider issues which it natu - 
rally involves — What is the origin, the foun- 
dation, the true philosophy of government — a 
matter touching every race and every nation, 
embracing in its wide sweep the past history as 
well as the future expectations of mankind. 

It is quite impossible here more than to men- 
tion this mighty struggle of Webster and Cal- 
houn. Indeed, were Americans truly alive to 
the heritage which is theirs, it would be super- 
fluous to describe again that memorable scene. 
It would be taught to every school child, and 
would be stored in the memory in company 
with the multiplication table. 

It is to be hoped that every reader of these 
words, if he has not already done so, will 
speedily take down from the shelf the pon- 
derous and (doubtless, alas!) dusty volumes, 
and read first Webster's speech of February 
of 1833, and then Calhoun's answer ten days 
later. 

Different opinions as to the issue of that 
debate have long been entertained and probably 
will long continue to be. The question has 
agitated the American people already more 
than a hundred years. Some think it has been 
settled. Others think that it has not. 

An excellent account and resume (if the 
reader is too lazy to refer to the speeches them- 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 24I 

selves), is to be found in Mr. Stephens' 'War 
Between the States," Vol. I, Chapters 7 and 8. 

Mr. Stephens' judgment on the issue is in 
the following words : "This is quite enough of 
Mr. Calhoun's reply. I have read all of it that 
bears directly upon the main points in issue be- 
tween them. On these points never was a man 
more completely crushed than Mr. Webster 
w r as. The argument is a crusher, an extin- 
guisher, an annihilator !" 

Governor Hammond (of South Carolina), 
in his oration on the life and services of Cal- 
houn, a production, by the way, which should 
be in the hands of every student of American 
history, makes the following comment : 

"* * * ^ debate, however, arose in the 
Senate on the bill embracing the recommenda- 
tions of the President — commonly called the 
Force Bill — which will go down to future 
times and live an imperishable monument of 
the patriotism and courage, the wisdom and 
foresight, the genius and eloquence, of Mr. 
Calhoun. His speech is not surpassed by any 
recorded in modern or in ancient times, not 
even by that of the great Athenian on the 
Crown. 

'This debate can never be read without its 
being seen, and felt, that Mr. Webster, his only 
opponent worthy to be named, gifted as he is 
universally acknowledged to be, with talents 
of the highest order, and remarkable even more 

for his power of reasoning than for his brilliant 
16 



242 THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

declamation, was on this memorable occasion 
a dwarf in a giant's grasp. He was prostrated 
on every ground that he assumed. And if 
logic, building on undoubted facts, can demon- 
strate any moral proposition, then Mr. Calhoun 
made as clear as mathematical solution his 
theory of our government and the right of each 
State to judge of infractions of the Consti- 
tution, and to determine the mode and measure 
of redress. When the dust of ages shall have 
covered alike the men, the passions and the in- 
terests of that day, this speech of Mr. Calhoun 
will remain to posterity, not merely a tri- 
umphant vindication of the State of South 
Carolina, but a tower-light to shed the bright- 
est, purest, and truest rays on the path of every 
Confederacy of Free States that shall rise upon 
the earth." 

Finallv this account may be closed with an 
extract from an obscure Southern essayist, 
whence was derived the title under which these 
lines have been put together : 

"The other occasion was the celebrated de- 
bate with Webster, when Webster made the 
mistake of attempting to maintain that the 
Constitution is not a compact. He made the 
best of a bad job" (sic), "it is true. His effort 
Avas characterized by all the adroitness and 
acumen of a master advocate, but on this point, 
despite his efforts, Calhoun crushed him ut- 
terly. It is here that, after demolishing the 
contentions of Webster, he goes on and fur- 



THE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. 243 

ther, as if to forestall all doubt or question, and 
inquires why it is that the Senator., with all 
his mastery of the English language, with all 
his consummate skill and polish and address, 
has failed of his attempt? Because, he ex- 
plains, of the impossibility of the task, the 
weight of which must crush the Senator or 
anyone else. The climax here reached of the 
greatest forensic duel ever fought is electric 
with interest. It is a moment of the greatest 
significance in American history. The true 
constitutional theory was fought through and 
established by one Titan statesman against a 
brother Titan before the eyes of all mankind. 
Webster, liberal and large man that he was, 
realized that he had come off second best, and 
never made reply to Calhoun's answer." 



INDEX. 



Abbeville, birthplace of C, 13. 
Aberdeen, Lord, 123, 124. 
Abolition Petitions, reception 

of, 155; 182. 
Abolitionism, 151; virus of, 

144; ultimate effect of, 155, 

161; only cause sufficient to 

destroy Union, 162; history 

of, 182 et seq. 
Adams, J. Q., inauguration 

marks new era, 37; attack on 

Calhoun, 39. 
African Slavery, true relative 

importance in C.'s philosophy, 

151- 
Agriculture, C.'s interest in, 

114. 
Ambition, sacrificed to dvity, 42. 
Analogy, tariff and slavery, 58, 

233- 
Anglo-Saxon, appeal to two 

great nations, 131, 238. 
Arts, mechanical and chemical 

effects on progress, 78, 131. 
Autocracy, sectional, 180. 

Bacon, 22, 47, 213, 237. 

Baltimore Caucus, 161, 115, 
116. 

Bank Notes, 84, 87. 

Bank Dividends, bill to set 
aside for internal improve- 
ments, 21. 

Banks, pretense by which they 
profit, 87; pernicious influence, 
90; effect on tone of public 
affairs, 94. 

Banks and Government, league 
of, 88. 

17 



Baptists, 189. 

Benton, C.'s relation to, 141. 

Bernard, General, likens C.'s 
administrative talent to Na- 
poleon's, 33. 

Bill of Abominations, 41; C.'s 
open and fearless opposition, 
42; 57- 

Birth of C, 14. 

Blifil and Black George, 39. 

Books first studied by C, 15. 

Bryce, on causes of excellence 
of American Constitution, 54; 

237- 
Burke, 93. 

Caldwells, C.'s maternal fam- 
ily. 13- 

Calhoun Family, generosity cf, 
16. 

Calhoun, Floride (Mrs. John 
C), 18. 

Calhoun, Jas. E., 116; 140. 

Calhoun, John Ewing, 18. 

Calhoun, Patrick, ii; opposi- 
tion to Constitution, 11; 13. 

California, 197 et seq.; made 
the test, 210. 

Canadas, invasion of, 8. 

Carlyle, quoted, 138, 217, 229. 

Cash and Credit, 86. 

Chatham, cause of admiration 
of, 9. 

Cheves, Langdon, ii. 

Civilization, dawn of new and 
better, 132. 

Civil War, what it did not set- 
tle, 67, 151; parallelism with 
Nullification, 58, 233. 



246 



INDEX. 



Clay, Henry, on 12th Congress, 
10; 14, 36; his tact, 59; 113; 
166; his plan inadequate to 
save Union, 194; 220. 

Clemson, T. G., 129. 

Clemson, Mrs. T. G., 137, 231. 

Coin, its money character ex- 
plained, 85. 

Columbus, 52, 152. 

Communities, division into tax- 
payers and tax-consumers, 93, 
102, 105. 

Compact, Constitution is a, 66, 
Appendix A. 

Compromise which resulted 
from Nullification, 60. 

Concurrent, majority, 50. 

Congress, power over territories, 
164, 197. 

Consent of Governed, 38, 48; 
relation to Nullification, 49. 

Consistency of C.'s life as a 
whole, 22. 

Consolidation, 178. 

Consolidated Democracy, Unit- 
ed States transformed into, 
179. 

Constitution, in reference to 
war, 8; liberal construction, 
20; C.'s view in 1828, 36; 
guiding principle of adoption, 
54; a verdict of thirteen jury- 
men, 55; departure from, 173; 
amendment necessary, 209; 
C.'s proposed amendment, 211; 
necessary conservative prin- 
ciple, 235. 

Constitutionality, of banks, 

88; of tariff, 57. 
Constitutional Currency, C.'s 

explained, 96 et seq. 
Continental Money, 99. 
Contract, value of one confer 

ring use of government credit, 

92. 
Conversation, C.'s fondness for 

social, 220. 



Cords that bind Union, snapping 

of, 187. 
Corpus Christi, 141. 
Cotton, manufacture of, 78. 
Credit Portion of Currency, 

89. 
Currency, foundation fallacy, 
86; power conferred by regu- 
lation of value of, 87. 

Davis, Jefferson, om Webster's 
tribute, 218. 

Davis, Warren R., 73. 

Death, not greatest calamity, 
62; of C, 216. 

Delegates of '88, 53. 

Democrat Party, 117. 

Denominational Cords, snap- 
ping of, 188, 189. 

Deposit, misleading use of the 
word, 90. 

Depreciation of C.'s constitu- 
tional currency, why impos- 
sible, 100. 

Destiny of two Anglo-Saxon 
nations, 133. 

Disquisition on Government, 
first mention, 112; 114; 214; 
content of, 234. 

Distribution of Wealth, pro- 
found effect of financial insti- 
tutions on, 90; effect of tariff 
on, 79. 

Disunion, work of time, 1S7. 

Divine Rights, thrown on dust 
heap, 48. 

Eaton, Mrs., 41. 

Education, 14; C.'s view of 

his own, 15, 16. 
Electricity, its " m y s ti c 

meshes," 132. 
Emancipation Predicted, 164. 
Enforcement of Law, 62. 
England, 48; as illustrating 

Nullification, 54. 
Enumerated Powers, 21. 



INDEX. 



247 



Episcopal Church, 189. 

Equilibrium of Sections de- 
stroyed, 169-173. 

Error. the fundamental of 
finance, 86; in the use of 
words, how far reaching (e. 
g. "deposit"), 90. 

Europe and Asia, governments 
contrasted, 53. 

Executive, a dual, 211. 

"Executive Proviso/' 196. 

"Exposition/' the South Caro- 
lina, 50; 57, 58, 74. 

Federal Party, 117. 

"Federalist," on majorities, 50. 

"Fifty-four Forty," 129. 

Finance, C.'s speeches relating 

to, 84; far-reaching influence 

on society, 86; trend of C.'s 

theory of, 88; vast importance 

— peril to free institutions, 90. 

Fiscal Action, of government, 

105. 
Foote, Senator, 211. 
Forbidden Fruit, Mexico, 147. 
Force, effect on Union, 64. 
Force Bill, nature of C.'s 
speech on, 60; Appendix A; 
a disgrace to Senate, 64; 
"chains forged and fitted," 
etc., 65. 
Foreign Market, how North can 

command, 76. 
Foreigners, their inadequate 

views, 231, 237. 
Free Trade, effect on civiliza- 
tion, 133. 
Fugitive Slave Act, 185, 209. 

Galileo, 47, 237. 

"General Welfare," 21. 

Genius, illuminating power of, 
83. 

Government, triumph of limited 
over absolute, 53; analysis of 
interests that control, 109; 



change from original form, 
1/3- 

GOVERNMENT AND BANKS, leagUC 

of; supreme importance of 

consequences of, 1816, 92; 

favors tax-consumers, 93. 
Government Credit, value of 

use of, 91. 
Graduation Essay, 17. 
Gravity, discovery of political, 

47- 
Great Britain, probable effect 
of war with, 132 (see also 
England). 

Hamilton, General James, 165. 
Hammond, J. H., 16; on C.'s 

originality, 36; quotation from 

Oration, Appendix A. 
Harmony of the sections, what 

will produce, 78. 
Hayne, Robert Y., 40, 59. 
Houston, General, 197, 
Huger, D. E., 129. 
Hunter, R. M. T., 115. 

"Imperialism," 145. 
Impressed Seamen, 7. 
Inconsistency, accusations of, 

19. 
Internal Improvements, 21. 

Jackson, 33; breach with C, 
40; 42; lack of education, 58; 
proclamation, 59; J. and C, 
vulgar view, 59, 232; 113. 

Jefferson, 21, 39; States rights, 
67; Missouri compromise, 152; 
-37, ^38. 

Jury, as illustrating Nullifica- 
tion, 55. 

Justice and Constitution, 162, 
211. 

Kentucky, bank of, 100. 

Laplace, 47. 

Last Days of C., 213. 



248 



INDEX. 



Latitudinarian Views, 20. 

League, of government and 
banks, 88. 

Legislation, three classes -of, 
which have destroyed equilib- 
rium, 173. 

Liberty, danger of patronage 
to, 107. 

Lincoln, logic of Cooper Insti- 
tute address, 163. 

Lowndes, Rawlins, epitaph he 
desired, 11. 

Lowndes, William, ii, 12, 26; 
historic remark as to presi- 
dency, 117. 

Madison, veto internal im- 
provements, 21; 39; argument 
States rights, 67; 238. 

Majority Rule, 38; cause of 
tyranny of, 49; complete as- 
cendency, 180. 

Manufactures, 19. 

Marriage, 18. 

Master-key to C.'s career, 
41. 

McDuFFIE, II7. 

Memphis Memorial, 130. 

Mercantile Theory, 71. 

"Mercury," the Charleston, 116; 
quoted, 165. 

"Metaphysical," 24, 46. 

Methodist Episcopal Church, 
188. 

Mexican War, 65; territory, 
121; effect of C.'s course, 
cause of, 141; C.'s opposition, 
effect of the war, curtain 
dropped, 142; end of Vol. I., 
144; line to defend, 145, 148; 
resolutions, 149. 

Mexico, mysterious relation, 147; 
treaty of peace, 149, 175; ex- 
clusion South, 195, 197. 

Michigan, 203. 

Military Academy, history of, 
28-32. 



Mill, J. S., on protection, 72. 
Minorities, protection of, 234. 
Missouri Compromise, 152; C.'s 

account of his own views of, 

158; 164. 174, 177, 208. 
Money, distinction of two kinds, 

84; definition of, 85. 
Money Power, concentration of, 

90. 
Monroe, C.'s opinion of, 26; 

C.'s letter to, 1828, 36; last 

of first dynasty, 37. 
Mt. Vernon, passage by, 224. 
Municipal Police, abolition of, 

67. 

Napoleon, Calhoun likened to, 

33- 

National Bank, constitutional- 
ity, S8. 

National Greatness, prospect 
of, 134. 

Nature's School, C.'s early 
education in, 16. 

Negroes, 7, 151, 158-160. 

Nero and Caligula, 62. 

Newton, 12, 47. 

North, Lord, 63. 

North, stake of in Union, 163; 
beneficiary of unfair taxation, 
173; view of race relations, 
181; responsibility to save 
Union, 209. 

North Carolina, paper money, 
98, 100. 

Notes, bank and private, 87. 

Nueces, River, 141. 

Nullification, C.'s view of, 44; 
discovery of political gravity, 
48; secures consent of all the 
governed, 49; Nullification and 
suffrage, 50; essential to lib- 
erty, 51; 234; analogy to Civil 
War, 58, 233; result of the 
contest, 60; effect on consoli- 
dation, 65; contrast with se- 
cession, 65; as police force, 



INDEX. 



249 



67; Wharton on, 120; true 
ultimate issue, 232; what was 
at stake, 235. 

Offices, "public trusts," 106. 

Olive Branch, scorned, 65. 

O'Neal, "Peggy," 41. 

Orders in council, 7. 

Ordinance of 1787, first step 
towards disunion, 163; 174, 
177. 

Oregon, relation to Mexico, etc., 
127; extent, title, joint oc- 
cupancy, 128; Oregon settle- 
ment and Mexican war, 140; 
speech on, characterized, 238. 

Paper Money, true basis of, 
86; subjugation to the system, 
95; form suggested by C, 97- 
Parties, ultimate basis of, and 
respective policies, 102; effect 
on patriotism, 106. 
Patronage, extent and influence, 
105; fatal to liberty in large 
countries, 106. 
Pinkney, William, 83. 
Plataea and Marathon, 53- 
Politicians, supposition that 
Southern, responsible for con- 
ditions, 168. 
Polk, J. K., 129, 141. 
Powers, constitutional division 
of, 57; absorption of by gov- 
ernment, 178. 
Presbyterians, 189. 
Presidency, ambition sacrificed, 
42; interests that combine to 
secure, 109; C.'s view of, 112, 
113; compared with Lowndes, 
116, 117. 
Promise to Pay, 87, 96. 
Prophetic Faculty, 142, 152; 
exhibition of, in speech of 
1833, 153; 157- 161; emanci- 
pation and reconstruction, 
164; destruction of Union, 
184. 



Protection, 19, 56; value of 
the phrase, 70; prostrated by 
Nullification, 70; putrid car- 
cass, effect on wealth, 71, 72, 
73; call it charity, 80. 

Providence, C.'s unshaken re- 
liance on, 215. 

Public Opinion, means of cor- 
rupting, 107. 

Race Relations, predicted, 164; 
180; Northern views, 181. 

Randolph, view as to negroes, 
7; his new doctrine of retalia- 
tion, 8; admiration of Eng- 
land, 9; 14, 21; characterized 
by C, 22, 158; immortal epi- 
gram, C.'s relation to, view 
on tariff, 39; on finance, 40, 
87; 56; Missouri compromise, 

158. 

Ravenel, Daniel, 223. 

Reconstruction, 144; forecast 
of C, 164. 

Redeemability, of bank paper, 
86. 

Removal of Deposits, 84. 

Republican Party, i 17- 

Republican Government, guar- 
antee clause, 153. 

Revenue, "is the State," 93'. 
collection and disbursement of, 
see Finance, fiscal action, etc.; 
sectional system of, 176. 

Review, by C, in 1843 of own 
career, 112. Consult also C.'s 
speeches on Force Bill, Mexi- 
can War, etc. 

Revolution, War of, compared 
with secession, 193. 

Rio Grande del Norte, move- 
ment of troops on, 140. 
Rome, 48; illustrative of Nul- 
lification, 54. 

Sabbath-like Stillness, 226, 

228. 
San Jacinto, 122. 



250 



INDEX. 



"Sawney," 15. 

Scotch Irish, 13. 

Scrofula, national, 37. 

Seabrook, Governor, 22"]. 

Secession, choice between S. 
and Abolition, 187. 

Secretary of State, letters 
Tyler and Calhoun, 118, 119. 

Sections, the economic rela- 
tion of, 75. 

Self-interest, as dividing line, 
102. 

Seminole War, 41. 

Shell of Resistance, on ex- 
terior, 156. 

South, conservative portion, 
161; subject to unfair taxa- 
tion, 173; views as to rela- 
tion of races, 181. 

South Carolina, hotbed of 
politics, 236. 

Speeches, C.'s on Tariff, 74, 79; 
on Finance, 84; on Mexican 
War, 141, 145, 147. 

Spoils, in a wide sense, 103; 
difficulty resisting in large and 
populous country, 106. 

Statistics, War Department, 
24; tariff, etc., 1824-1840, 
tables, 81; negroes, 158. 

States, manner of admission, 
197, 201; "part in peace," 210. 

Stephens, A. H., 233, Appendix 
A. 

Submission or disunion, 193, 
210. 

Suffrage, viewed as sufficient 
safeguard to liberty, 38; se- 
cures part, 49; S. and Nul- 
lification, 50; 234. 

Tariff of 1816, 23; 1816-1824, 
Randolph's views, 40; 1816- 
1828, 56; Tariff and liberty, 
56; encroachment on sover- 
eignty, 57; raising and lower- 
ing, 70; bounty, not burden, 
74; first sections, then classes, 



79; traceable ultimately to 
financial interest, 92; T. ( 
Banks and Spoils, relation to 
consolidation, 103, 109; un- 
fair burden, 176; obscures nul- 
lification, 232. 

Taxpayers and Tax-Consumers 
(Taxation and Disbursement), 
93, 103, 104. 

Tea Tax, 45, 62. 

Tennessee, history of admission, 
207. 

Territories, history of admis- 
sion, etc., 197 et seq. 

Territory acquired, 121; jus- 
tice in regard to, 162; power 
of Congress, 163, 197; exclu- 
sion of South, 173, 195; his- 
tory of, 174; South's equal 
right, 209. 

Texas, independence, etc., 122; 
treaty of annexation, 125; re- 
lation to Union, 126. 

Theory of Finance, trend of 
C.'s, 88. 

Thermopylae, 156. 

Treatise on Constitution, 212; 
content of, 235. 

Tyler, President, 117. 

Twelfth Congress, 10. 

"Unbank the Banks," 88. 

Union, in danger, 157, 162, 166; 
view of scries of events, 163; 
destruction by agitation, 187; 
preservation by force, 63, 190; 
cry of, cannot save, 191; pro- 
fession of devotion to, 192; 
invocation of Washington can- 
not save, 193; how can it be 
saved? 208. 

United States, danger of des- 
potism in so large a country, 
107. 

Upshur, 118, 119, 124. 

Valley Forge, 48. 



INDEX. 



251 



Venable, Abram W., tribute to 
C, 213; 227; reference to 
Disquisition, 214, 230. 

Vice-President, 34, 36; C.'s 
resignation, 59. 

Waddel, Dr., 14; Academy, 16, 

17- 

Wages, cause of high, 76; effect- 
iveness of industry, 77. 

Wall Street, 95. 

War Department, reduction 
expense, 24; C.'s review of 
his administration, 25; organi- 
zation of by C, 26; popularity 
with employees, 28; removals 
by C, 33. 

War and Peace, 131. 

Washington, invocation of, 1*3; 
effect of his death, 217. 

Waterloo, period beginning, 
131- 



Webster, 14, 36, 38; debate with 
Hayne, 40; with C, in 1833, 
66, Appendix A.; his attack 
on C.'s currency, 99; 113; C.'s 
reply to, 153; 7th of March, 
163; 166, 212; tribute to Cal- 
houn, 217. 

West, provision section, 75. 

Whigs, 117. 

Wharton, Francis, 119, 231. 

Wilmington, N. C, old man 
and servants, 223. 

Wilmot Proviso, 196. 

Wise and masterly inactivity, 

135- 
World's Convention, 123. 

Yale, 17. 

Young Men, C.'s friendship for, 
119, 221. 



AUG 15 1903 



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